111 Capital Purchases New Shares in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

111 Capital purchased a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 743 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned 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 $520.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $479.57. 257,753 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 763,697. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $453.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.17.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

About Moody's

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.