Raymond James Financial Upgrades MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) to Outperform

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial has upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating, with a price target of $650, indicating a potential upside of 18.48% from its current price.
• MSCI reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter, with earnings per share of $4.17, exceeding the consensus estimate of $4.12, and a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.1%.
• Institutional investors own 89.97% of MSCI's stock, with notable recent stake increases by firms like Vanguard Group and Geode Capital Management.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Raymond James Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report issued on Friday,Finviz reports. The brokerage currently has a $650.00 price target on the technology company's stock. Raymond James Financial's target price indicates a potential upside of 18.48% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on MSCI. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $650.17.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE MSCI opened at $548.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $42.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.32. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $564.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $566.70. MSCI has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock worth $920,026,000 after purchasing an additional 13,918 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock worth $570,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,846 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.