Wayfinding Financial LLC Buys Shares of 563 Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 563 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $698,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $273,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 177,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,360,000 after purchasing an additional 87,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $459.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $485.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.65. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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.