MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $662.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $640.00 to $662.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $624.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $569.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.78 billion, a PE ratio of 38.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $631.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $579.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $529.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.87%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,886,777,000 after buying an additional 36,043 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.5% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,734,519 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $972,111,000 after purchasing an additional 9,304 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 74.9% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its position in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after purchasing an additional 23,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 1.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $504,855,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.