Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Has $26.70 Million Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. cut its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,367 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,365 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $26,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 87.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $400.50.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded up $6.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $394.06. 753,573 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 737,122. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $384.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $375.15. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $407.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.99 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 10.78 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Moody's Company 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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