Oppenheimer Reaffirms Market Perform Rating for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

Oppenheimer reissued their market perform rating on shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on MSCI. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a peer perform rating on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a hold rating to a buy rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $562.87.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $477.78 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $37.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $541.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $537.78. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, American National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1,300.0% during the 4th quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.