MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $530.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $532.00 to $530.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $643.92.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $546.73 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $558.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $585.72. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $609,937,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 16,353.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 169.4% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 507,413 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $304,453,000 after buying an additional 319,083 shares in the last quarter. 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.