Forsta AP Fonden Increases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 68.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,300 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $20,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 2,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $506,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,809 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,019,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $420.27.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $2.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $445.98. The company had a trading volume of 786,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,015. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $451.19. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $413.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $394.74. The stock has a market cap of $81.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.69, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.28.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.85 dividend. 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 0.76%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.