MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $645.67.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

MSCI Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $602.23 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $602.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $569.53. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $47.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.