MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.45% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on MSCI. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 target price on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $710.00 to $720.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings lowered MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $719.00 to $727.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $713.50.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $636.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $595.99 and its 200 day moving average is $576.53. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $501.08 and a fifty-two week high of $644.68.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 65.48% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business had revenue of $850.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $830.91 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI will post 19.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total transaction of $5,920,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at $13,941,357.92. The trade was a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,133,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in MSCI by 39.0% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,724,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 35,130 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $20,261,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $88,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.