MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Down 7.3% - What's Next?

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) shares traded down 7.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $550.00 and last traded at $535.70. 472,930 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 513,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $577.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $530.00 to $578.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.27.

MSCI Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $40.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.32. The business's fifty day moving average is $566.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $567.75.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.64 EPS. Analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after buying an additional 518,833 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 0.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock worth $920,026,000 after buying an additional 13,918 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock worth $570,464,000 after purchasing an additional 19,846 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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