First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Increases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 16.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 200.0% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $406.73.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of MCO stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $425.99. 195,497 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 599,413. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $405.14 and its 200-day moving average is $392.37. The company has a market cap of $77.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $428.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.