Syon Capital LLC Purchases 431 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Syon Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,693,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $535,573,000 after acquiring an additional 21,145 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,474,000 after acquiring an additional 59,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,867,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.3 %

Moody’s stock traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $376.13. The stock had a trading volume of 632,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 716,790. 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 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $384.17 and a 200 day moving average of $370.97.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 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 company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

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.