MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Raised to $680.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) had its price objective raised by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $650.00 to $680.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the technology company's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $650.18.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $12.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $543.38. 505,684 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 572,119. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $565.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $567.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. MSCI's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in MSCI by 23.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 336.4% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,867,000 after buying an additional 23,649 shares during the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,845,000 after buying an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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.