First National Advisers LLC Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

First National Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 41.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,864 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the quarter. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Wealthsource Partners LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCO. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock traded up $1.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $413.92. 874,968 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 752,509. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $387.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $379.56. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $414.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $75.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.26.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Moody’s 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.