Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $640.00 to $662.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.61% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $624.23.

MSCI Trading Down 1.1 %

MSCI stock traded down $6.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $572.63. The stock had a trading volume of 250,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,462. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $579.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $529.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.04 billion, a PE ratio of 38.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. ASB Consultores LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.9% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $957,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. increased its holdings in MSCI by 13.9% during the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 1,479 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $243,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in MSCI by 2.8% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,515 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,788,000 after acquiring an additional 821 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.