Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,562 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,976,000 after acquiring an additional 67,486 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Moody's by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 210.4% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,409,000 after acquiring an additional 10,582 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,989,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 29.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,562,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped 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 report on Wednesday. One investment 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MCO traded down $2.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $437.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 190,462 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,382. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.67 billion, a PE ratio of 38.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $456.51 and a 200-day moving average of $473.22.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

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.