Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Trims Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $823,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 4,900.0% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $374.67 on Monday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $384.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $369.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $68.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.48 billion during 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%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.