MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Price Down 2.1%

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) dropped 2.1% during trading 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.53.

MSCI Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $38.85 billion, a PE ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $514.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $536.63.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other 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 value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 18.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 918 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $410,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,808 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $22,991,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.