MSCI (MSCI) to Release Earnings on Tuesday

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) is set to release its earnings data before the market opens on Tuesday, April 23rd. Analysts expect MSCI to post earnings of $3.46 per share for the quarter. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.64 million. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect MSCI to post $15 EPS for the current fiscal year and $17 EPS for the next fiscal year.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $513.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $558.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $539.26. The stock has a market cap of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI has a 1 year low of $451.55 and a 1 year high of $617.39.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $581.57.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,683,338 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,911,730,000 after buying an additional 85,922 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,637,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $914,510,000 after buying an additional 35,746 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in MSCI by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,281,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $717,432,000 after buying an additional 311,370 shares during the period. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in MSCI by 26.3% in the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 1,208,281 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $607,620,000 after buying an additional 251,686 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in MSCI by 312.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 852,913 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $428,913,000 after purchasing an additional 646,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% 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.