MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives $646.58 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $643.92.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought 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. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 255.4% during the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $546.73 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $42.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $559.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $585.92.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.