Burney Co. Acquires 45,473 Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Burney Co. grew its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 317.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,785 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,473 shares during the quarter. Moody's comprises about 1.0% of Burney Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Burney Co.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $27,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 77,500.0% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 289.8% in the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. 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 report on Thursday. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $0.47 on Friday, reaching $512.62. 688,529 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 753,171. Moody's Corporation has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.22 billion, a PE ratio of 43.55, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $489.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $475.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.28 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.