RFG Advisory LLC Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,418,296,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the period. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $720,502,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 14.9% during 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. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $425.63 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $428.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $398.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $390.51. 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 capitalization of $77.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company 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 firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.50.

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.