MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Trading Down 0.7%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) shares dropped 0.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $501.25 and last traded at $501.98. Approximately 138,972 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 587,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $505.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Down 0.3 %

The stock's 50-day moving average is $515.52 and its 200-day moving average is $536.86. The firm has a market cap of $39.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 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 paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 of the company's stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares in the company, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted 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 period. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the first quarter worth $34,000. 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.