Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Boosts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 28,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 552 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $11,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 87.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Barclays raised 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 research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $3.58 on Friday, reaching $410.60. 498,500 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 749,095. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $417.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $74.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.83, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $390.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $382.66.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 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, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Moody’s’s dividend 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.