MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Cut to $425.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective trimmed by Bank of America from $530.00 to $425.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $541.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $537.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, 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. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 105.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 6.7% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 348.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in MSCI by 45.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,346 shares during the period. 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.