Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 73,511 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Brown Advisory Inc. lowered its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 828,709 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 73,511 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 1.06% of MSCI worth $497,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company's stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $645.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $7.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $552.90. The company had a trading volume of 339,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,334. The firm has a market cap of $42.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.32, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $550.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $580.68. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $468.43 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

MSCI 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.