MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $569.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $613.00.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MSCI. StockNews.com lowered MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Raymond James restated a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $541.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $537.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, American National Bank increased its holdings in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.