Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 54 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 609 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 54 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rathbones Group PLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,766,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in MSCI by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 4,283 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Garrison Asset Management LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,726,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 32.0% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 241,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,564,000 after acquiring an additional 58,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 526.6% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,245 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,125,000 after acquiring an additional 22,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $551.71 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $546.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $521.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $696.41 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.86% and a negative return on equity of 143.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

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.