Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Buys New Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 627 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $4,418,296,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 205,800 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 worth $525,474,000 after purchasing an additional 59,476 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,769,000 after purchasing an additional 24,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.7 %

MCO traded up $2.85 on Thursday, hitting $398.79. 184,632 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 728,836. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The company has a market cap of $72.82 billion, a PE ratio of 43.23, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $384.45 and its 200-day moving average is $375.15.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Moody’s Company 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.