MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $585.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.58.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $542.26 on Thursday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $562.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $586.71.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.