MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Posted by Tyrone Williams on Mar 19th, 2023

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $510.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $580.00 to $585.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $470.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $539.00 to $549.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $558.10.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $537.09 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $530.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.10 and a beta of 1.13. MSCI has a one year low of $376.41 and a one year high of $572.50.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The technology company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $576.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $568.53 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.72% and a negative return on equity of 93.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI will post 12.8 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Jennifer H. Mak sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $559.89, for a total transaction of $503,901.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,831,327.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 18,898.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bishop Rock Capital L.P. now owns 3,918,722 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,508,000 after purchasing an additional 3,898,095 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 128.4% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,412,649 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,406,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,640 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,382,561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,108,296,000 after purchasing an additional 890,554 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $378,140,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 312.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 852,913 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $428,913,000 after purchasing an additional 646,050 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.18% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

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MSCI, Inc engages in the provision of investment decision support tools including indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics and corporate governance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other-Private Assets. The Index segment focuses on the investment process, including developing indexed financial products.