Brown Advisory Inc. Trims Stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 678,507 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,287 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.38% of Moody's worth $315,974,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its position in Moody's by 1,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price target on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho started coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.07.

Moody's Trading Down 0.6%

Moody's stock traded down $3.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $499.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 536,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 765,397. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market cap of $89.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $479.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $472.94. Moody's Corporation has a 12 month low of $378.71 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 29.15%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.