MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Upgraded by Bank of America to “Neutral”

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $525.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $425.00. Bank of America‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 10.12% from the company’s current price.

MSCI has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $569.53.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $476.76 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $539.87 and a 200 day moving average of $537.69. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The company has a market capitalization of $37.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06.

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. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $496,541,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 803.9% during 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $391,008,000 after buying an additional 284,513 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in MSCI by 3,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,469,000 after acquiring an additional 246,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 32.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.