632 Shares in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Purchased by Endowment Wealth Management Inc.

Key Points

• Endowment Wealth Management Inc. has acquired 632 shares of Moody's Corporation, valued at approximately $294,000, during the first quarter.
• Major institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Moody's, with some firms reporting boosts of over 1,000% in their positions during Q1.
• Moody's stock has received optimistic upgrades from various analysts, with price targets ranging from $550.00 to $595.00, reflecting a strong consensus of "Moderate Buy" among analysts.

Endowment Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 632 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 132.6% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Motco raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 581.3% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded up $1.57 on Friday, hitting $515.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 375,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 867,140. The company has a market capitalization of $92.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $495.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $478.40.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. The trade was a 31.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total value of $1,083,701.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,841,138.44. The trade was a 27.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock valued at $4,382,984. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody's from $509.00 to $534.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

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.