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

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $638.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 10.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $622.54.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $1.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $577.41. The company had a trading volume of 173,249 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,095. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $45.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $579.80 and a 200-day moving average of $529.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently 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.