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

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $649.23.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought 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 directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was 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 the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $207,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 732 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,046 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7 %

MSCI stock opened at $565.72 on Friday. MSCI has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $579.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

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.