Xponance Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Xponance Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $18,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 26.0% in the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 6,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 1,346 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 380 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,942 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $225,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MCO traded down $0.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $374.60. The stock had a trading volume of 786,706 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,621. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $296.45 and a 1 year high of $407.62. The firm has a market cap of $68.36 billion, a PE ratio of 43.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $385.09 and its 200 day moving average is $368.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price 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, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.