Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Acquires 10,135 Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 62.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,424 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,135 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $12,305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 379 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 70.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $208,370,000 after acquiring an additional 184,297 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 810 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 289.8% during 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. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter worth approximately $641,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays decreased their price target on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.07.

Moody's Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Moody's stock traded up $3.12 on Wednesday, hitting $502.14. 441,046 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 766,725. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $480.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $90.33 billion, a PE ratio of 43.36, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 60.37%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Moody's

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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

About Moody's

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.