Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Raised by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 36,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Lido Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 15.8% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al grew its holdings in Moody’s by 94.3% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 10,713 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,387,000 after acquiring an additional 5,198 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Moody’s by 52.5% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Moody’s by 5.3% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 37,433 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $479,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $3.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $447.16. 57,024 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 700,448. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $447.43. The company has a market cap of $81.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.59, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $412.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $394.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Barclays raised 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. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.27.

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.