MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $699.7273.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $760.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $528,560,000. Bamco Inc. NY increased its position in shares of MSCI by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,755,747 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,581,055,000 after acquiring an additional 361,630 shares during the last quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 103.3% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 523,035 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $300,081,000 after acquiring an additional 265,750 shares in the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $130,380,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MSCI opened at $603.63 on Thursday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $592.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $574.97. The firm has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a PE ratio of 34.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 19.62 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.83%.

MSCI Company Profile

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.