Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stake Increased by Cross Staff Investments Inc

Cross Staff Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Cross Staff Investments Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 39.7% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,728,000 after purchasing an additional 429,473 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 valued at $86,489,000 after purchasing an additional 220,764 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 40.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after buying an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $2.56 on Friday, hitting $377.74. The stock had a trading volume of 328,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,755. The stock has a market cap of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $384.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $370.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.