Webster Bank N. A. Acquires Shares of 5,399 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,399 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,514,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 80.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of MCO stock traded up $0.82 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $480.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 290,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,852. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $453.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $473.17. 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 issued 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. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.87.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.