DeDora Capital Inc. Takes Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DeDora Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,240 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $487,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $4.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $380.56. The company had a trading volume of 793,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,106. The firm has a market cap of $69.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $383.97 and a 200-day moving average of $373.23. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.