Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Has $457,000 Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 29.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,163 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $6.27 on Friday, reaching $432.26. 536,860 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 556,195. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $392.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $432.78. The stock has a market cap of $78.93 billion, a PE ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 3.28 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.45.

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.