MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Key Points

• Barclays raised MSCI’s price target to $760 from $735 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying approximately 19.1% upside from the cited share price.
• MSCI shares rose 2.4% to $638.23, near their 12-month high. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average analyst target of $683.69.
• MSCI exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $5.11 in EPS and $892 million in revenue, with revenue up 12.4% year over year; however, two company executives recently sold shares.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Barclays from $735.00 to $760.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the technology company's stock. Barclays's target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.08% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $671.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Evercore set a $722.00 price target on shares of MSCI and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. William Blair set a $680.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $655.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $683.69.

MSCI Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $14.85 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $638.23. 469,073 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 635,268. MSCI has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $644.77. The company has a market cap of $45.63 billion, a PE ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $567.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $573.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 50.69% and a net margin of 40.31%. The business had revenue of $892.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $887.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $256,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,337,080. This trade represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Robert Gutowski sold 2,381 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $623.66, for a total value of $1,484,934.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 14,104 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,796,100.64. The trade was a 14.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 3.76% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,798,710,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $301,493,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $257,687,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc NYSE: MSCI is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.

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