Barclays Cuts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $600.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price reduced by Barclays from $700.00 to $600.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and cut their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $562.87.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $541.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $537.90. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bamco Inc. NY increased its stake in MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $971,634,000 after purchasing an additional 30,528 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in MSCI by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $976,009,000 after purchasing an additional 151,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

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.