Barclays Cuts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $650.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $675.00 to $650.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.31.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a PEG 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $572.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.66.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,539,000 after acquiring an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 169.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,453,000 after purchasing an additional 319,083 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $185,003,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.