MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to Buy Rating

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) was upgraded by research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $723.00 price target on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $617.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 18.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Down 1.1 %

MSCI stock opened at $611.63 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.16, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $600.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $556.84.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. 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.