Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Makes New $2.97 Million Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,967,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of 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 objective on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $419.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $428.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $400.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $391.08.

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 company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. 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.