MSCI’s (MSCI) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

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

Several other research firms also recently commented on MSCI. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $606.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgewood Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings 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 worth $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in MSCI by 700.4% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after purchasing an additional 104,474 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $56,101,000. 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.