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

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $723.00 price target on the technology company's stock, up from their prior price target of $617.00. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective points to a potential upside of 20.92% from the stock's previous close.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.67.

MSCI Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded down $13.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $597.90. The company had a trading volume of 708,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 535,996. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $600.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $557.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.86 billion, a PE ratio of 39.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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.