Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 92 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 15.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 701 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the second quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $605.16 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $588.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $544.51. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $631.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.43 billion, a PE ratio of 39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $640.00 to $662.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.