UBS Group Cuts MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Price Target to $680.00

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $695.00 to $680.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $624.23.

MSCI Stock Down 1.7 %

MSCI opened at $569.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $44.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $579.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $529.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 42.87%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its position in MSCI by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 20,965 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,221,000 after buying an additional 1,220 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $258,000. ASB Consultores LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $258,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 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.