MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Given New $425.00 Price Target at Bank of America

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective lowered by Bank of America from $530.00 to $425.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on MSCI. Raymond James reissued a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and cut their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three research 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, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $464.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $36.82 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $545.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $538.56.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.33% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at $496,541,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 803.9% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $391,008,000 after acquiring an additional 284,513 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,469,000 after acquiring an additional 246,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.