Westwind Capital Has $12.80 Million Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Westwind Capital grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11,578.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,956 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,768 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises about 3.1% of Westwind Capital’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Westwind Capital’s holdings in MSCI were worth $12,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Argus boosted their price objective on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI started coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $612.00.

MSCI Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $599.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.15 billion, a PE ratio of 40.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $563.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $523.87.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.87%.

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.