Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,508 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 336 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthsource Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% in the third quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $0.95 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $376.13. The company had a trading volume of 718,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 670,299. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The company has a market capitalization of $68.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $384.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $371.72.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its 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 quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

About Moody’s

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.