Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,503 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.14.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.
Moody’s Trading Up 1.6 %
NYSE:MCO opened at $479.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $86.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $503.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $480.13 and a 200-day moving average of $470.31.
Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current year.
Moody’s Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.
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.
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