MCF Advisors LLC Buys 1,214 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,214 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,265,000 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. Wealthsource Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective 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. Barclays raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $374.67. 820,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 651,201. The firm has a market cap of $68.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $384.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $369.56. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.