Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber Sells 281 Shares

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Robert Fauber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, February 3rd, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02.
• On Wednesday, January 15th, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22.
• On Thursday, January 2nd, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $519.18. 655,302 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 733,694. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $486.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.80. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $94.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31. 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) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on MCO shares. 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. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Moody’s by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 175,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,183,000 after purchasing an additional 38,014 shares in the last quarter. Cache Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $519,000. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 92.9% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 3,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,574 shares in the last quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc. now owns 4,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Advisory LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.