MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Releases Earnings Results

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12, Zacks reports. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $533.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.93, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $558.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $585.27.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $643.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.