MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $645.36.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 136.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $568.66 on Wednesday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $576.53. The stock has a market cap of $44.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.