MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $631.83.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $589.25 on Friday. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $631.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $586.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $541.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.5% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,570 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,123,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 302.6% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,988 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,886,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,043 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 455.8% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,146,000 after purchasing an additional 4,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.