MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $425.00 Price Target at Bank of America

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target reduced by Bank of America from $530.00 to $425.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $541.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $537.78. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in MSCI by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after acquiring an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 13,659.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after acquiring an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in MSCI by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after acquiring an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.