Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Buys 85 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,164 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $153,532,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 39.7% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $477,728,000 after buying an additional 429,473 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 32,275.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $86,489,000 after buying an additional 220,764 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 40.3% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 720,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,671,000 after buying an additional 206,698 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group lifted 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.50.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO traded up $7.14 on Monday, reaching $387.70. 781,321 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 736,934. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $383.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $374.01. The stock has a market cap of $70.79 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.26. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.78 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.