Royal Bank Of Canada Reaffirms Outperform Rating for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $655.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 5.30% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $684.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MSCI from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $685.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $685.00 to $720.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $680.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twelve have given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $691.93.

MSCI Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $17.59 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $622.05. The stock had a trading volume of 143,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 638,256. MSCI has a 12 month low of $501.08 and a 12 month high of $644.77. The firm has a market cap of $45.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $560.34 and its 200 day moving average is $576.62.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The technology company reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 50.69% and a net margin of 40.31%. The company had revenue of $892.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $887.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.47 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI will post 19.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew Wiechmann sold 450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $570.00, for a total value of $256,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,644 shares in the company, valued at $12,337,080. The trade was a 2.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 3.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Burkett Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 200.0% during the third quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 48 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Compound Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting MSCI this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings beat expectations: MSCI reported revenue of $892 million, up 12.4% year over year, and adjusted earnings per share of $5.11, exceeding consensus estimates of $887.83 million and $5.03, respectively. MSCI Q3 earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Strong index and asset-based fee performance: Asset-based fees rose 24.9%, while ETF assets reached a record $2.90 trillion. Subscription growth was also notable, including a 32% increase in the hedge-fund index subscription run rate. MSCI Q3 results and ETF assets
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns remain supportive: MSCI declared a quarterly dividend of $2.05 per share and reported approximately $627.2 million in share repurchases through October 19. Management also reaffirmed free-cash-flow guidance. MSCI earnings and capital returns
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support increased: JPMorgan raised its price target to $710 and maintained an overweight rating, while RBC reaffirmed its outperform rating with a $655 target.
• Neutral Sentiment: Indonesia-related developments: Indonesia imposed record fines for market violations after MSCI warned that transparency concerns could threaten the country’s emerging-market classification. The crackdown may address some concerns, but the issue remains a potential source of market volatility. Indonesia market fines
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a concern: A Seeking Alpha analysis acknowledged MSCI’s double-digit growth but argued that the stock’s elevated valuation leaves insufficient margin of safety, potentially limiting gains despite strong fundamentals. MSCI valuation analysis

About MSCI

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks and other financial institutions. The company is best known for developing equity, fixed-income and multi-asset indexes used to benchmark portfolios and support the creation of investment products such as exchange-traded funds.

In addition to its indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-attribution tools, as well as research and data covering environmental, social and governance factors, climate risk and sustainable investing.