Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Sells 76 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV lowered its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 76 shares during the quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,418,296,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $720,502,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,850,000 after acquiring an additional 229,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,867,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE MCO traded up $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $426.63. 65,349 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 711,657. 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 quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $77.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $404.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $392.13.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. 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 note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $403.00.

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.