MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Up 0.7%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 0.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $487.88 and last traded at $486.04. 109,531 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 575,818 shares. The stock had previously closed at $482.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $569.53.

MSCI Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $38.43 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $525.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $535.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during 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%. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, American National Bank raised its position in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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