MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) – Research analysts at Oppenheimer reduced their Q3 2022 earnings estimates for shares of MSCI in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer analyst O. Lau now expects that the technology company will earn $2.71 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.74. Oppenheimer has a "Outperform" rating and a $535.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for MSCI's current full-year earnings is $11.34 per share. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for MSCI's Q4 2022 earnings at $2.65 EPS and FY2022 earnings at $11.13 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $515.00 to $493.00 in a research note on Friday, July 15th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $514.00 to $546.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $478.00 to $513.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $515.00 to $508.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $520.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $517.25.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The technology company reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 36.85% and a negative return on equity of 151.89%. The firm had revenue of $551.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $560.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.45 EPS. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 14.0% in the 3rd quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 848 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in MSCI by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,320 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 792,819 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $326,760,000 after purchasing an additional 35,851 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 297.5% in the 2nd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,018 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,480,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prelude Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $225,000. 89.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $501.46, for a total value of $2,507,300.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,408 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,744,015.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 11th. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.04. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 51.44%.

MSCI Company Profile

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MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other – Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.

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