600 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Bought by HCR Wealth Advisors

HCR Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 600 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $720,502,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $153,532,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,850,000 after acquiring an additional 229,831 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 32,275.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,489,000 after acquiring an additional 220,764 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Moody’s by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after acquiring an additional 206,698 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $3.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $410.60. 498,500 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 749,095. The company has a market capitalization of $74.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $390.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $382.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $417.75.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.