Lion Street Advisors LLC Makes New $288,000 Investment in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Lion Street Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 618 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Clarius Group LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 21.7% in the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $532,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 9.7% in the first quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 3,185 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,483,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the first quarter valued at approximately $619,000. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 5.8% during the first quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 528 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $470.64 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.64, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $464.28 and a 200 day moving average of $472.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Moody's Corporation has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 60.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Moody's's payout ratio is 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.

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