Natixis Advisors L.P. Has $81.46 Million Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 208,580 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,394 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.11% of Moody's worth $81,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody's by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Moody's from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays raised Moody's from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $398.50.

Moody's Trading Up 1.1 %

MCO stock traded up $4.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $380.56. The company had a trading volume of 784,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,418. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $296.45 and a one year high of $407.62. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $384.07 and a 200-day moving average of $372.82. The stock has a market cap of $69.45 billion, a PE ratio of 43.59, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.26.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody's had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody's's 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.

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