Barclays Boosts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $650.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price lifted by Barclays from $600.00 to $650.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group raised their target price on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $591.21.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $540.55 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $495.69 and a 200 day moving average of $524.55. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.76 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in MSCI by 9.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,475,000 after buying an additional 21,310 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its position in MSCI by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,761,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $904,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,506,000 after buying an additional 57,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.