MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) PT Lowered to $575.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $700.00 to $575.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America cut their price target on MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and cut their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $541.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $537.78.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 105.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 348.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in MSCI by 45.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,092,000 after buying an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.