Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 42.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 150.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Moody’s by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 47,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $14,900,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $420.93. 923,554 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 675,526. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $428.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $402.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $391.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.50.

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.