Bank of America Increases MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $730.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective upped by Bank of America from $715.00 to $730.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.21% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday. UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price target on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $702.45.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $602.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.24. MSCI has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $644.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $592.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $575.21.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 19.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at $13,941,357.92. This trade represents a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 341.7% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 53 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.