MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Trading Down 2.1%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was down 2.1% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $492.01 and last traded at $493.14. Approximately 174,574 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 588,168 shares. The stock had previously closed at $503.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $512.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $536.28. The company has a market cap of $39.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction 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 completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 207.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 2,956 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,996 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 172.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,083 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after buying an additional 5,754 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 12.8% in the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 936 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.0% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,890 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $75,957,000. 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.