Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by SVB Wealth LLC

SVB Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 53.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,114 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,079 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Wealthsource Partners LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.9% in the third 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 during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors raised 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 worth $389,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in Moody’s by 3.4% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $374.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The company’s fifty day moving average is $384.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $368.73. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $296.45 and a 1-year high of $407.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.68 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

About Moody’s

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.