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 traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

MSCI Stock Up 4.2 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $545.76 and a 200 day moving average of $538.56. The company has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 111.33% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.81 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

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

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.