Procyon Advisors LLC Acquires 64 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 907 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $429,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd 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. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $475.74 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $503.95. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $480.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $470.75. The company has a market cap of $86.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $506.14.

Moody’s Company 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.