Westwind Capital Purchases 187 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Westwind Capital grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,143 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. MSCI accounts for approximately 2.9% of Westwind Capital’s holdings, 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 have also bought and sold shares of the business. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in 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. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $6.95 on Tuesday, reaching $589.71. 277,245 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 310,550. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $601.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.22 billion, a PE ratio of 38.72, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

MSCI 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.