Ninety One North America Inc. Has $68.24 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ninety One North America Inc. reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 174,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 28,996 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 3.3% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Moody’s worth $68,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 143.8% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE MCO traded up $1.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $377.15. 163,288 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,202. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $385.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $368.69. The stock has a market cap of $68.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

Moody’s Company Profile

Moody's Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Services. The Moody's Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.