MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Price Target Cut by Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo cut MSCI’s price target from $690 to $685 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying 26.17% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: MSCI has an overall “Buy” consensus, with a $709.08 average price target and targets as high as $760 from Raymond James and Jefferies.
• MSCI’s latest quarterly results slightly missed expectations, with adjusted earnings of $4.94 per share and revenue of $867 million, although revenue grew 12.2% year over year.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $690.00 to $685.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the technology company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 26.17% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group set a $615.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $760.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $742.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $709.08.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $542.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $562.65 and a 200-day moving average of $574.46. MSCI has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.99 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $867.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 55.19%. The business's revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 19.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,798,710,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,446,291 shares of the technology company's stock worth $829,781,000 after purchasing an additional 168,405 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $480,613,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 737,063 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $422,875,000 after purchasing an additional 89,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks, wealth managers and other financial professionals. The company is best known for its equity, fixed-income and multi-asset-class indexes, which are used as benchmarks and as the basis for investment products such as exchange-traded funds and other index-linked strategies.

In addition to indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-measurement tools designed to help clients evaluate exposures, construct portfolios and manage investment risks.

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