Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 39.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 496 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $64,000. Tobam lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2,010.0% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 211 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock 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 upped their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $422.71 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $423.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $77.19 billion, a PE ratio of 46.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $396.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $389.58.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.