MSCI (MSCI) to Release Earnings on Tuesday

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) is projected to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 22nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $3.88 per share and revenue of $746.45 million for the quarter. Individual that wish to listen to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. On average, analysts expect MSCI to post $17 EPS for the current fiscal year and $19 EPS for the next fiscal year.

MSCI Trading Up 1.8 %

MSCI opened at $551.23 on Tuesday. MSCI has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $561.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $586.67.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $646.58.

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.