Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Has $1.34 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 20.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 200.0% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $0.56 on Monday, hitting $421.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 588,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 718,670. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $402.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $391.66. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $428.79. The company has a market capitalization of $76.96 billion, a PE ratio of 46.01, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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