MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Westwind Capital

Westwind Capital reduced its stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,142 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,717 shares during the quarter. MSCI accounts for 2.5% of Westwind Capital’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Westwind Capital’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in MSCI by 221.9% in the 3rd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 538 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $290,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 48 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 13.1% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,007 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andra AP fonden increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 477.6% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 15,480 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,669,000 after acquiring an additional 12,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of MSCI traded up $6.54 on Thursday, reaching $561.92. The stock had a trading volume of 389,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 635,775. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.85 billion, a PE ratio of 30.74, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $559.43 and a 200 day moving average of $574.32. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $501.08 and a twelve month high of $644.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The technology company reported $4.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.99 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $867.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.71 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 55.19% and a net margin of 40.74%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 19.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 44.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore set a $722.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group set a $615.00 target price on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $760.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on MSCI from $730.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on MSCI from $715.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eleven have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $709.08.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc is a global provider of investment decision-support tools and services for institutional investors, asset managers, banks, wealth managers and other financial professionals. The company is best known for its equity, fixed-income and multi-asset-class indexes, which are used as benchmarks and as the basis for investment products such as exchange-traded funds and other index-linked strategies.

In addition to indexes, MSCI provides portfolio analytics, risk-management and performance-measurement tools designed to help clients evaluate exposures, construct portfolios and manage investment risks.