Advantage Trust Co Buys Shares of 133 Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 133 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,742,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 8.1% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 4,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,361,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 653 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $308,000. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 9,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,920,000 after buying an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $5.74 during trading on Thursday, reaching $401.68. 559,458 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 733,077. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $407.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $73.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $384.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $375.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

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.