Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Acquires 152 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 857 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 24,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,710,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $243,000. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Certuity LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth about $221,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $380.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $69.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average is $383.97 and its 200 day moving average is $374.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.