Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) is XXEC Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

XXEC Inc. decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 31.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,010 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for approximately 4.5% of XXEC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $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. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $4.28 on Tuesday, hitting $370.34. 1,116,098 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 725,876. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $384.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $372.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.