Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Buys 346 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.6% during the third 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after purchasing an additional 205,800 shares during the period. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.3% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 21,145 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Moody’s by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,474,000 after purchasing an additional 59,476 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO traded up $0.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $376.13. 632,778 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 717,847. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The company has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.08, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $384.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $371.37.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. 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 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.