MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) PT Lowered to $526.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $615.00 to $526.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $425.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James reissued a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $562.87.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $464.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $545.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 111.33%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 105.1% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.7% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 348.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 45.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,092,000 after acquiring an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.