MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was the target of a large decline in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 888,900 shares, a decline of 18.4% from the June 30th total of 1,090,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 744,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Argus upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,150 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 479 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 316 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in MSCI by 4.1% during the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 290,105 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,758,000 after purchasing an additional 11,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 100.1% during the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,866 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,434 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:MSCI traded up $2.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $540.55. The stock had a trading volume of 439,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 578,947. MSCI has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $495.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $524.45. The company has a market cap of $42.51 billion, a PE ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that MSCI will post 14.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

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.