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

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $675.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $606.80 and its 200 day moving average is $581.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI will post 16.91 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.