Bamco Inc. NY Boosts Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 57.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,711 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $12,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock traded up $11.54 during trading on Friday, reaching $448.75. 884,404 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 757,001. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $458.24. The firm has a market cap of $81.72 billion, a PE ratio of 48.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $422.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $399.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.