Howland Capital Management LLC Has $398,000 Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Howland Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,013 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Moody’s by 392.6% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,634,000 after purchasing an additional 19,660 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $265,285,000 after purchasing an additional 14,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $350,769,000 after acquiring an additional 24,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $1.81 during trading on Friday, reaching $445.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 700,344. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $412.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $394.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $445.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.27.

Moody’s Company 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.