Arkadios Wealth Advisors Makes New $428,000 Investment in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 918 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 5,050.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moody's by 132.6% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco lifted its stake in Moody's by 581.3% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,841,138.44. This represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,593 shares of company stock valued at $4,382,984 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $520.47 on Tuesday. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $493.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $477.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.16 billion, a PE ratio of 44.22, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.95%.

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.

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