MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $760.00 Price Target at Barclays

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Barclays from $735.00 to $760.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $670.00 to $680.00 in a report on Monday, October 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $684.00 price objective (down from $704.00) on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $550.00 in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $680.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $683.69.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $14.85 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $638.23. 469,073 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 635,268. MSCI has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $644.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $567.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $573.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 50.69% and a net margin of 40.31%. The firm had revenue of $892.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.83 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 19.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 2,381 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $623.66, for a total value of $1,484,934.46. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 14,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,796,100.64. This represents a 14.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew C. Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total transaction of $256,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,337,080. This represents a 2.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 3.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $3,062,626,000. Bamco Inc. NY bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,798,710,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $480,613,000. Generation Investment Management LLP bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $301,493,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $257,687,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.