Exchange Capital Management Inc. Has $2.16 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Exchange Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,507 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,418,296,000 after buying an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $720,502,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,850,000 after purchasing an additional 229,831 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $3.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $424.66. 137,448 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 714,659. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $402.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $391.66. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $428.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.00.

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.