MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Trading Up 0.4%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)’s share price rose 0.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $495.60 and last traded at $492.60. Approximately 127,043 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 593,454 shares. The stock had previously closed at $490.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a market cap of $39.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $513.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $536.31.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. The business 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit bought 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 918 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. 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 increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,808 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $22,991,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,155 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $593,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 466 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.