Novem Group Boosts Stock Position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Novem Group lifted its stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 32.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,303 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 566 shares during the quarter. Novem Group's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded up $7.30 on Friday, hitting $504.42. 485,177 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 765,939. 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 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $477.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $472.47. The firm has a market cap of $90.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.56, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 29.15%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody's from $572.00 to $573.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $523.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $521.40.

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.