MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Down 0.6%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) traded down 0.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $468.43 and last traded at $468.54. 164,191 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 571,643 shares. The stock had previously closed at $471.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $569.53.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $528.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $536.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.29 billion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 1.36%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 9.4% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 1,400 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 8,475 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of MSCI by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 24,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,640,000 after buying an additional 1,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 9,061 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,489,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.