MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Short Interest Up 33.5% in April

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,090,000 shares, an increase of 33.5% from the March 31st total of 816,300 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 546,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during 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 last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, American National Bank boosted its stake in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $569.53.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $11.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $465.79. 931,183 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 557,791. MSCI has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $36.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $539.87 and its 200-day moving average is $537.69.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio 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.