MSCI Inc. (MSCI) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 14th

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 1.80 per share by the technology company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60.

MSCI has raised its dividend by an average of 20.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. MSCI has a payout ratio of 37.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect MSCI to earn $19.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

MSCI Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $577.72 on Wednesday. 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 $604.66 and a 200-day moving average of $585.99. The stock has a market cap of $45.28 billion, a PE ratio of 41.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays lowered 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, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.