MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Raised to $695.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $662.00 to $695.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the subject of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.58.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $635.90 on Thursday. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $599.20 and a 200-day moving average of $553.33. The company has a market capitalization of $49.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. Analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

About MSCI

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.