Windacre Partnership LLC Boosts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 11.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 173,900 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for 9.4% of Windacre Partnership LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Windacre Partnership LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $686,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,850,000 after purchasing an additional 229,831 shares during the period. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $88,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $448.50.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.8 %

MCO stock traded up $7.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $458.06. 927,136 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 730,221. The company has a market cap of $83.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $424.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $400.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $459.05.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Richard G. Steele 1,506 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.