Share Buyback Plan Declared by MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) Board of Directors

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the technology company to repurchase up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $582.54 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $561.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $560.15. MSCI has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.33.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The firm had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.90.

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.