14,608 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Bought by Americana Partners LLC

Americana Partners LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 14,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,915,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Haverford Trust Co raised its position in Moody’s by 1.8% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 2.1% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 0.8% in the third quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MCO shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $522.62.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $522.76 on Monday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $484.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $478.79. The stock has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’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 value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.