502 Shares in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Bought by Abel Hall LLC

Abel Hall LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 502 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter worth about $49,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Trading Up 1.1%

MCO traded up $5.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $513.59. The stock had a trading volume of 847,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 752,435. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Corporation has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $488.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $475.34.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $536.93.

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.