475 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Purchased by William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc

William Howard & Co Financial Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 475 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Conning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Bank of America upped their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.5 %

MCO stock opened at $482.55 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $490.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $458.83 and its 200-day moving average is $417.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.87 billion, a PE ratio of 52.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.