Brown Advisory Inc. Buys 44,234 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 44,234 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $587,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. American National Bank boosted its holdings in MSCI by 1,300.0% in the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.6 %

MSCI stock traded up $7.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $505.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 878,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,063,311. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $517.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $536.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.53.

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.