MSCI’s (MSCI) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $638.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $577.95 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $580.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $530.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in MSCI by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 239,933 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after purchasing an additional 21,310 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 88,097 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $49,307,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $91,748,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 313.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 30,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,069,000 after acquiring an additional 23,097 shares during the period. 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.