MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $638.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $581.57.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $513.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $40.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $451.55 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $558.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $539.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The business had revenue of $690.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.64 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.84 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. RB Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 1,276 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $642,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Markel Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 141,700 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $71,258,000 after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in MSCI by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,237 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $701,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MSCI

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.