Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 1,621 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 42.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors lifted its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $420.93. 923,554 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 675,526. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $428.79. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $402.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $391.58. The firm has a market cap of $76.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS 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 $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

About Moody’s

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.