New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $97.95 Million Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 250,805 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 17,064 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.14% of Moody's worth $97,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,418,296,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,359,927,000 after purchasing an additional 205,800 shares during the period. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd lifted its holdings in Moody's by 1.3% in the third quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,693,940 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $535,573,000 after buying an additional 21,145 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Moody's by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,998 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $525,474,000 after buying an additional 59,476 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $2.92 on Tuesday, reaching $382.18. 572,228 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 717,270. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $383.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $370.41. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62. The stock has a market cap of $69.75 billion, a PE ratio of 43.43, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Moody's from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody's from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $397.75.

About Moody's

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.