DRW Securities LLC Makes New $497,000 Investment in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,050 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth about $988,750,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 92,060.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $290,112,000 after purchasing an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Moody's by 73.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 510.8% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $200,058,000 after purchasing an additional 353,431 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $150,376,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $522.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's 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 directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 977 shares of company stock valued at $477,848. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $6.01 on Wednesday, reaching $429.04. 162,489 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 893,152. The company has a market cap of $77.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $468.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $475.20.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.