MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $634.58.

Several equities analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its position in MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth about $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $625.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $599.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $555.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.04, a PEG ratio of 3.27 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

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.