MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Gap Down to $515.17

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $515.17, but opened at $479.00. MSCI shares last traded at $461.47, with a volume of 378,794 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded MSCI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $581.57.

MSCI Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $35.34 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $550.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $539.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.46 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The firm's revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,159,615,000 after buying an additional 15,184 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company's stock worth $971,634,000 after purchasing an additional 30,528 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company's stock worth $976,009,000 after purchasing an additional 151,108 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company's stock worth $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company's stock worth $587,575,000 after purchasing an additional 44,234 shares during the period. 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.