Brokerages Set MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Target Price at $692.70

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $692.70.

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MSCI from $545.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $590.81 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $555.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $562.56. MSCI has a 52 week low of $501.08 and a 52 week high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 46.83%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $524.18 per share, for a total transaction of $3,145,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,493,047 shares in the company, valued at approximately $782,625,376.46. This trade represents a 0.40% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 3.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $528,560,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 499.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 874,882 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $496,417,000 after purchasing an additional 728,900 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in MSCI by 15.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 361,630 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 691,554 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $392,395,000 after purchasing an additional 331,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in MSCI by 36.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,069,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $606,674,000 after buying an additional 282,859 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About MSCI

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.