Short Interest in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Declines By 16.0%

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 728,700 shares, a decline of 16.0% from the November 15th total of 867,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 460,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on MSCI. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.58.

MSCI Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $625.10 on Friday. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $599.91 and a 200-day moving average of $554.66. The stock has a market cap of $48.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.10.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.