MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives $649.23 Average Price Target from Brokerages

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $649.23.

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $575.38 on Friday. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $581.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $588.84.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $207,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 732 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the period. 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.