2,550 Shares in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Bought by RWA Wealth Partners LLC

RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,550 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $996,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 3rd quarter valued at about $153,532,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 21.3% during 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 buying an additional 2,942 shares during the period. White Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at $244,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 79,887 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,072 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $14,479,000 after acquiring an additional 7,250 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Moody's from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody's Price Performance

Moody's stock traded down $6.03 on Thursday, reaching $375.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 891,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 717,841. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $296.45 and a twelve month high of $407.62. The company has a market cap of $68.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The business's fifty day moving average price is $384.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $370.97.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

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.