MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) PT Raised to $650.00 at Barclays

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective raised by investment analysts at Barclays from $600.00 to $650.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 21.63% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price target on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $589.79.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $11.60 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $534.41. The stock had a trading volume of 266,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 588,630. The business has a fifty day moving average of $493.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $524.40. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The firm has a market cap of $42.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.51, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,886,777,000 after purchasing an additional 36,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $972,111,000 after buying an additional 9,304 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1.8% during the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $741,508,000 after buying an additional 23,217 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $587,575,000 after buying an additional 44,234 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $496,541,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.