Brokerages Set MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Target Price at $645.36

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $645.36.

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8%

MSCI stock traded down $4.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $564.15. 477,477 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 526,477. The company has a market cap of $43.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's fifty day moving average is $548.89 and its 200-day moving average is $579.52. MSCI has a 52-week low of $475.32 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 255.4% during the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.