MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Trading 8.1% Higher Following Strong Earnings

MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)’s share price traded up 8.1% on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $591.73 and last traded at $591.1010. 1,006,103 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 64% from the average session volume of 611,894 shares. The stock had previously closed at $546.86.

The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.86 EPS.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 136.4% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 8.4%

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $561.40 and its 200 day moving average is $559.82. The company has a market capitalization of $45.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI Company Profile

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.