MSCI (NYSE:MSCI – Get Free Report) and Westwood Holdings Group (NYSE:WHG – Get Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares MSCI and Westwood Holdings Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| MSCI | $3.13 billion | 13.76 | $1.20 billion | $17.51 | 33.83 |
| Westwood Holdings Group | $97.76 million | 1.58 | $7.06 million | $0.79 | 20.68 |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for MSCI and Westwood Holdings Group, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| MSCI | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Westwood Holdings Group | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
MSCI currently has a consensus target price of $692.70, suggesting a potential upside of 16.94%. Given MSCI’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe MSCI is more favorable than Westwood Holdings Group.
Dividends
MSCI pays an annual dividend of $8.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Westwood Holdings Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. MSCI pays out 46.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Westwood Holdings Group pays out 75.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. MSCI has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years.
Profitability
This table compares MSCI and Westwood Holdings Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| MSCI | 40.74% | -65.48% | 24.49% |
| Westwood Holdings Group | 7.22% | 8.24% | 6.85% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
90.0% of MSCI shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.6% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of MSCI shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Westwood Holdings Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
MSCI has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Westwood Holdings Group has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
MSCI beats Westwood Holdings Group on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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. The Analytics segment offers risk management, performance attribution and portfolio management content, application, an integrated view of risk and return service, and an analysis of market, credit, liquidity, counterparty, and climate risk across asset classes; managed services, including consolidation of client portfolio data, review and reconciliation of input data and results, and customized reporting; and HedgePlatform to measure, evaluate, and monitor the risk of hedge fund investments. The ESG and Climate segment provides products and services that help institutional investors understand how ESG impacts the long-term risk and return of their portfolio and individual security-level investments; and data, ratings, research, and tools to help investors navigate increasing regulation. The All Other Private Assets segment includes real estate and infrastructure data, benchmarks, return-analytics, climate assessments and market insights; business intelligence to real estate owners, managers, developers, and brokers; and offers investment decision support tools for private capital. The Private Capital Solutions segment offers tools to help private asset investors across mission-critical workflows, such as sourcing terms and conditions, evaluating operating performance, managing risk and other activities supporting private capital investing. MSCI Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
About Westwood Holdings Group
Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, manages investment assets and provides services for its clients. The company operates in two segments, Advisory and Trust. The Advisory segment provides investment advisory services to corporate retirement plans, public retirement plans, endowments, foundations, individuals, and the Westwood Funds; and investment sub-advisory services to mutual funds, pooled investment vehicles, and its Trust segment. The Trust segment offers trust and custodial services; and participates in common trust funds that it sponsors to institutions and high net worth individuals. Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Dallas, Texas.
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