Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.12 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,877 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 85.5% during the third quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $381.21 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $69.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $384.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $370.94. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. 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.