MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Raised to Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $723.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $617.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.67.

MSCI Trading Up 0.7 %

MSCI stock opened at $604.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $600.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $558.22. The company has a market capitalization of $47.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.71, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd 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 bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.