GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 801,414 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 55,808.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 801,414 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned approximately 0.45% of Moody's worth $373,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $66,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on shares of Moody's in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.87.

Moody's Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MCO traded up $0.90 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $480.22. The company had a trading volume of 504,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,646. The firm has a market cap of $86.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $453.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $473.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

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.