MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Cut to $615.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $671.00 to $615.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, April 12th. Raymond James reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $541.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $537.90.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.14 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after purchasing an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after purchasing an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.