MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Earnings Beat

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. 425,083 shares were traded during mid-day 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Friday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $575.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $496,541,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 803.9% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $331,906,000 after purchasing an additional 522,926 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 59.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 762,080 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $391,008,000 after purchasing an additional 284,513 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $143,469,000 after purchasing an additional 246,781 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after purchasing an additional 235,290 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 3.6 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $547.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.08. The company has a market cap of $36.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01, 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.