MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08, Briefing.com reports. The company 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%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.14 earnings per share.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $7.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $472.45. The stock had a trading volume of 247,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 537,090. The stock has a market cap of $37.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $543.53 and its 200 day moving average is $538.04. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $562.87.

Insider Activity at MSCI

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