Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 561 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 561 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises 1.7% of Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its stake in Moody’s by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,850,000 after buying an additional 229,831 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 32,275.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,489,000 after acquiring an additional 220,764 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 40.3% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after acquiring an additional 206,698 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $420.93. The stock had a trading volume of 923,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,526. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $428.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $402.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $391.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.