MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Bank of America

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $525.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $425.00. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.76% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Redburn Atlantic lowered MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $569.53.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $469.74 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $536.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $536.91. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.21 billion, a PE ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 348.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 14,038 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.