Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. Buys 1,565 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 26.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,441 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the period. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $933,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

Moody’s stock traded up $3.83 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $450.53. The company had a trading volume of 359,263 shares, compared to its average volume of 703,152. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $414.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $395.17. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $451.95. The firm has a market cap of $82.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $427.75.

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.