The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) to “Buy”

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) was upgraded by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $723.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $617.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.38% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group cut their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $600.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $47.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $600.77 and its 200 day moving average is $557.43. MSCI has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after purchasing an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by 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.