MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target Lowered to $530.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $532.00 to $530.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the technology company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective would suggest a potential downside of 3.06% from the company's previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $643.92.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded up $4.17 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $546.73. 508,540 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 565,634. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $558.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $585.72. The company has a market capitalization of $42.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.89, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in MSCI by 122.6% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in MSCI by 147.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.