Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased 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. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 200.0% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.23 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $425.78. The company had a trading volume of 195,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,682. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $428.79. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $404.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $392.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $403.00.

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.