The Goldman Sachs Group Trims MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Target Price to $526.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price target decreased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $615.00 to $526.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the technology company’s stock.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $562.87.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50 day moving average is $541.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $537.78.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, American National Bank raised its holdings in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.