Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Buys 35 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 740 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $720,502,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter worth $153,532,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,850,000 after purchasing an additional 229,831 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 32,275.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $86,489,000 after purchasing an additional 220,764 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Moody’s by 40.3% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after purchasing an additional 206,698 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.9 %

Moody’s stock opened at $407.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $417.75. The company has a market capitalization of $74.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $389.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $382.12.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.50.

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.