Analysts Set MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Target Price at $631.83

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $631.83.

A number of analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during 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 period. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 10,027 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 69,860 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,723,000 after acquiring an additional 23,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 59.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 68,147 shares of the technology company's stock worth $39,683,000 after acquiring an additional 25,314 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $10.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $593.86. 525,037 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 542,415. The company has a market cap of $46.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.98, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $583.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $537.35. MSCI has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $631.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.