Norden Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,510 Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $594,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% during the first quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 5.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 22,220 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.9% in the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MCO opened at $437.25 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $437.32. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $411.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $393.95. The stock has a market cap of $79.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.27.

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.