MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Short Interest Down 18.4% in July

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of 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. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 744,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.2 days.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE MSCI traded up $2.22 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $542.77. 351,969 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 588,984. MSCI has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $496.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $524.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.78 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.21.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $496,541,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 74.9% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,456,194 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $701,522,000 after acquiring an additional 623,712 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 803.9% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 587,978 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $331,906,000 after acquiring an additional 522,926 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 129.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $352,153,000 after acquiring an additional 412,389 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 3,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 253,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,469,000 after acquiring an additional 246,781 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.