Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Upgrades MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) to “Buy”

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $569.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $613.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on MSCI. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a neutral rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Up 2.9 %

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

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought 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 this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,159,615,000 after buying an additional 15,184 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in MSCI by 1.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $971,634,000 after buying an additional 30,528 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in MSCI by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $976,009,000 after buying an additional 151,108 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in MSCI by 14.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after buying an additional 44,234 shares in the last quarter. 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.