MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Lifted to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $525.00 price target on the technology company's stock, up from their prior price target of $425.00.

MSCI has been the subject of several other reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $569.53.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $11.14 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $465.84. 931,400 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 557,794. The stock has a market cap of $36.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $539.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $537.69. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.14 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 893 shares of the technology company's stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 151.3% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,307 shares of the technology company's stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 974 shares of the technology company's stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter worth $233,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 48,601 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,239,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

About MSCI

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.