MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Raised to $730.00 at Bank of America

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price raised by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $715.00 to $730.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 21.21% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on MSCI. Weiss Ratings downgraded MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $690.00 price objective on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised MSCI from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $650.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $702.45.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $602.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $592.92 and a 200-day moving average of $575.21. MSCI has a one year low of $501.08 and a one year high of $644.68. The company has a market cap of $43.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.24.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The technology company reported $4.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.38 by $0.17. MSCI had a net margin of 40.74% and a negative return on equity of 65.48%. The business had revenue of $850.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI will post 19.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alvise J. Munari sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $592.04, for a total value of $5,920,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,941,357.92. This represents a 29.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. World Equity Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 79.7% during the 2nd quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 902 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $450,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $258,000. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Aurora Investment Managers LLC. bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $1,900,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by 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.