MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 684,300 shares, a drop of 34.8% from the August 31st total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 489,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $562.37 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $551.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $521.62. MSCI has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $44.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that MSCI will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Company Profile

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.