Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. Has $2.82 Million Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 125.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,055 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,375 shares during the period. Moody's accounts for about 1.4% of Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $34,715,000 after buying an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 94.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,886 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $394,000. Finally, Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $1,412,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $523.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $519.07.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO opened at $499.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $486.91 and a 200 day moving average of $474.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.57. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 60.37%. On average, research analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

Moody's Company 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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