JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $680.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $700.00 to $680.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $596.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.45, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $607.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $582.24. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 16.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 45.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.