John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Raises Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $153,532,000. White Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $244,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 79,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,580 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 323.3% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 44,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,927,000 after purchasing an additional 33,642 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group raised 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $374.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 816,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 717,775. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $384.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $368.73. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The stock has a market cap of $68.38 billion, a PE ratio of 42.91, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 38.95%.

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.