Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 1,403 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 533.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,666 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 39.7% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $477,728,000 after purchasing an additional 429,473 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32,275.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,489,000 after buying an additional 220,764 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after buying an additional 206,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $394.06 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $384.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $375.15. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $71.96 billion, a PE ratio of 43.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.