MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given Outperform Rating at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $638.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MSCI. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.83.

MSCI Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $577.95 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $580.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $530.20. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.46 billion, a PE ratio of 37.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter valued at $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at $58,000. 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.