Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Takes $186,000 Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 393 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $186,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Moody’s from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $530.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.87.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1%

MCO opened at $471.15 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $446.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

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.