GWN Securities Inc. Purchases New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 534 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $486.22 and its 200 day moving average is $481.20. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.