Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Boosted by Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 19.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,244 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 80.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, 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 available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $3.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $480.44. The stock had a trading volume of 275,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 816,842. 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 company has a market capitalization of $86.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $458.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $473.76. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.40.

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.