Morgan Stanley Boosts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $695.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its target price hoisted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $662.00 to $695.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 11.18% from the company’s current price.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.58.

MSCI Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $625.10 on Thursday. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $599.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.25. The company has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 74.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after purchasing an additional 623,712 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the third 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth about $56,101,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.