Westover Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Westover Capital Advisors LLC has invested $228,000 in Moody's Corporation, acquiring 490 shares during the 1st quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Moody's, with Barclays setting a new target of $580.00 and a consensus target of $538.80.
• Moody's recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94, reflecting an annual yield of 0.73%.

Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 490 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 77,500.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 289.8% in the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,528,000 after buying an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Moody's by 7.9% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Moody's Trading Up 1.5%

MCO traded up $7.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $518.22. The stock had a trading volume of 191,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 795,461. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $489.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $476.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.