Diversify Advisory Services LLC Buys New Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,044 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $466,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. bought a new position in Moody's during the first quarter valued at about $1,559,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 537.6% in the 1st quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 8,946 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,166,000 after purchasing an additional 7,543 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 751 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 888 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Graypoint LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,048 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Moody's from $572.00 to $573.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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, UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.07.

Moody's Stock Down 0.5%

MCO opened at $499.82 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $89.92 billion, a PE ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $486.91 and a 200-day moving average of $474.51. Moody's Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 29.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders 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 was Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.47%.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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