Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Purchases 25,849 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 153,943 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,849 shares during the quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.20% of MSCI worth $89,738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,047,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $504,855,000 after purchasing an additional 13,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 129.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 730,986 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $352,153,000 after purchasing an additional 412,389 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $589.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $631.70. The company has a market capitalization of $46.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $586.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $541.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $631.83.

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.