Disciplined Equity Management Inc. Makes New $130,000 Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Disciplined Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 332 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,250 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $0.96 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $381.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 568,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,564. The company has a market cap of $69.57 billion, a PE ratio of 43.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $384.13 and a 200-day moving average of $370.94. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

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.