MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Raymond James Financial currently has $710.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MSCI. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $700.00 target price on the stock. Evercore increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $674.00.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $561.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $626.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $567.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $564.57.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The business’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.18 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.26%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $518.95 per share, with a total value of $415,160.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares in the company, valued at $775,231,900.65. The trade was a 0.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $547,348,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 499.3% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,417,000 after acquiring an additional 728,900 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its position in MSCI by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,055,000 after acquiring an additional 361,630 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in MSCI by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $392,395,000 after acquiring an additional 331,040 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in MSCI by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $606,674,000 after purchasing an additional 282,859 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.