Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC Purchases Shares of 1,071 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,071 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $507,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth about $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $841,050,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $727,726,000 after acquiring an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $1.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $470.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 363,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,760. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $84.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.72, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $452.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $473.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid 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 0.80%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCO. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.87.

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.