Congress Asset Management Co. Buys 584 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 225,512 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned approximately 0.13% of Moody's worth $105,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $988,750,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 55,808.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $373,879,000 after purchasing an additional 801,414 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 92,060.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Moody's by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $150,376,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody's from $489.00 to $523.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.40.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded down $0.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $485.16. The stock had a trading volume of 629,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,354. The firm has a market cap of $87.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.05, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock's 50 day moving average is $456.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $473.69. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.