MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Releases Earnings Results

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22, Zacks reports. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $628.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $49.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $606.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.85.

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.