MSCI Inc (MSCI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.05 on February 27th

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of 2.05 per share by the technology company on Friday, February 27th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. This is a 13.9% increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.80.

MSCI has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. MSCI has a payout ratio of 43.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MSCI to earn $19.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.1%.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $515.63 on Wednesday. MSCI has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $626.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $574.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $566.76.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.04. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 82.59% and a net margin of 38.36%.The firm had revenue of $822.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $819.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.18 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings raised MSCI from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $690.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $655.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MSCI from $590.00 to $618.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $659.00.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision support tools and services for the financial industry. The company is best known for its family of market indexes, which are widely used as benchmarks by asset managers and as the basis for exchange-traded funds and other passive products. In addition to index construction and licensing, MSCI offers portfolio analytics, risk models, factor and performance attribution tools, and a suite of data and technology solutions designed to support portfolio management and trading.

Beyond traditional indexing and risk analytics, MSCI has expanded into environmental, social and governance (ESG) research and ratings, offering data, scores and screening tools that help investors integrate sustainability considerations into investment processes.