D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $1.52 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 326 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,697,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,161,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 384.0% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Americana Partners LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $6,915,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO opened at $499.62 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $487.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.