Evercore ISI Begins Coverage on MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $690.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on MSCI. Argus lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $598.07.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $589.72 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $46.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $560.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $523.38.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.79 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.7% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $134,475,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares during the period. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $959,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $904,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,755,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.6% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $49,307,000 after buying an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.