JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Price

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $700.00 to $680.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.97% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $646.38.

MSCI Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $3.60 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $596.65. 77,062 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 445,669. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $606.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $581.51.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 700.4% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after buying an additional 162,877 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after buying an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.