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

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) shares 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 trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $581.57.

MSCI Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $35.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $550.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $539.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.46 by $0.06. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.17% and a net margin of 45.42%. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 512 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 4.9% in the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 8,659 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,853,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in MSCI by 25.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 1,394 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth about $2,386,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in MSCI by 0.3% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 10,955 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,139,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.