Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. Makes New $1.56 Million Investment in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. bought a new stake in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,348 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,559,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody's by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 77,500.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 289.8% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Moody's by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,528,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in Moody's by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE:MCO traded up $2.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $502.87. 880,640 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 764,016. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $485.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $474.10. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $90.47 billion, a PE ratio of 43.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MCO. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $519.07.

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.