MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Sold by Westfield Capital Management Co. LP

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP decreased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 144,360 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,276 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned 0.19% of MSCI worth $83,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Banque Transatlantique SA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the 1st quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in MSCI by 2,666.7% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 83 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 133.3% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 84 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $710.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.90.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $564.85 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $563.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $563.29. The company has a market capitalization of $42.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.85, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $793.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $794.87 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.63%.

MSCI announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 7.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.