MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $675.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.65% from the stock’s current price.

MSCI has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.42.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $1.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $554.89. The company had a trading volume of 38,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 566,930. MSCI has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $560.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $586.46. The firm has a market cap of $43.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.