MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.22 EPS

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22, Zacks reports. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $3.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $587.28. 98,066 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 448,505. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.87, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $606.98 and a 200-day moving average of $581.58.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate 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.