NewEdge Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 61.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,123 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 804 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,981,000 after purchasing an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $470,712,000 after purchasing an additional 31,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in Moody's by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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 decreased 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 issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE MCO traded up $6.24 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $453.24. The company had a trading volume of 837,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,048. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $451.12 and a 200 day moving average of $472.47. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

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.