MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Upgraded at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) from an outperform rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $710.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on MSCI. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $700.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings cut MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $674.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $556.02 on Tuesday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $626.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $566.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $564.46. The stock has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a PE ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a net margin of 38.36% and a negative return on equity of 82.59%. The firm had revenue of $822.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 13th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $518.95 per share, for a total transaction of $415,160.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,493,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,231,900.65. This trade represents a 0.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.00, for a total transaction of $252,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 22,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,624,640. The trade was a 1.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,674,093 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,489,177,000 after acquiring an additional 165,851 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,320,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,884,233,000 after acquiring an additional 39,450 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,581,055,000 after acquiring an additional 361,630 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,467,556 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,415,713,000 after purchasing an additional 52,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,777,749 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,008,745,000 after purchasing an additional 109,287 shares in the last quarter. 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.