MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Sold by Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,644 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 22 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in MSCI by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in MSCI by 700.4% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,722,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $579.16 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $594.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $588.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

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.