Wells Fargo & Company Cuts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $532.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $623.00 to $532.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.58.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $542.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.11 billion, a PE ratio of 38.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $562.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $586.71.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 293.8% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 122.6% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.