State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $6.71 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its stake in Moody’s by 200.0% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $425.78. The company had a trading volume of 195,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,682. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $404.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $392.13. The company has a market cap of $77.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $428.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued 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 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $403.00.

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.