RWA Wealth Partners LLC Sells 122 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC cut its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $988,750,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $727,726,000 after buying an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. 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 research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO opened at $465.82 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.80 billion, a PE ratio of 41.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $485.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $479.92.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 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.