MSCI (MSCI) Projected to Post Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) is expected to issue its quarterly earnings data 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. Persons interested in listening 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect MSCI to post $17 EPS for the current fiscal year and $19 EPS for the next fiscal year.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $551.23 on Tuesday. MSCI has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $561.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $586.67. The firm has a market cap of $42.80 billion, a PE ratio of 39.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% 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.