Comerica Bank Buys 380 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Comerica Bank increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,092 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position 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 stake in Moody’s by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $265,285,000 after buying an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 9,756.3% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Richard G. Steele 1,506 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $448.50.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of MCO traded down $7.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $453.50. 285,030 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 731,162. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $426.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $401.36. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $462.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.31, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.