Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,352 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE MCO traded up $7.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $387.89. The company had a trading volume of 781,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,934. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $384.13 and a 200 day moving average of $374.55. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $407.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26.

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. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report 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. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.50.

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.