MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Receives Market Perform Rating from Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer restated their market perform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $464.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $545.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $538.56. The company has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.73, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $496,541,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in MSCI by 803.9% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $331,906,000 after buying an additional 522,926 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,008,000 after buying an additional 284,513 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in MSCI by 3,600.0% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,469,000 after buying an additional 246,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after buying an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. 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.