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

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

Several research firms have recently commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

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

MSCI Stock Up 0.7 %

MSCI stock opened at $601.48 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $601.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $566.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.49, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.