Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) is Fiduciary Group LLC’s 9th Largest Position

Fiduciary Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,084 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 2.2% of Fiduciary Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $19,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 39.7% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $477,728,000 after acquiring an additional 429,473 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 worth $86,489,000 after acquiring an additional 220,764 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Moody’s by 40.3% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after acquiring an additional 206,698 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 5.0% in the third 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $0.95 on Friday, hitting $376.13. 718,453 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 670,299. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $371.72. The company has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a PE ratio of 43.08, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.95%.

Moody’s 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.