Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Purchases New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC bought a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 533 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.6% in 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 buying an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $525,474,000 after purchasing an additional 59,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.5 %

Moody’s stock opened at $372.24 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $67.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $384.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $372.80. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s payout ratio 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.