Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Takes $208,000 Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 533 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Certuity LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $221,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,776,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $348,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $195,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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 target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $372.24 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock has a market cap of $67.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $384.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $372.80. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

Moody’s 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.