MSCI's (MSCI) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $675.00 target price on the technology company's stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $643.92.

MSCI Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $16.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $530.77. The company had a trading volume of 271,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 574,521. MSCI has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $558.86 and its 200-day moving average is $585.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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