Westwind Capital Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Westwind Capital grew its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,143 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up approximately 2.9% of Westwind Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Westwind Capital’s holdings in MSCI were worth $13,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in MSCI by 52.4% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 29.6% in the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 21,384 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,302,000 after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in MSCI by 339.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after purchasing an additional 20,730 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $6.95 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $589.71. 277,245 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 310,550. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $46.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $601.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $568.33.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $645.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.