MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Strong Earnings

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. 425,083 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the previous session’s volume of 505,533 shares.The stock last traded at $459.74 and had previously closed at $446.00.

The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. 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 firm earned $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $562.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 105.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 80 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.7% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 348.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 45.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $545.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $538.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.06.

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.