VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC Has $910,000 Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC cut its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,925 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22 shares during the quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $910,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.9% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 25.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.4% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,714 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $511.27 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $486.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.29. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.03 billion, a PE ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS 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 given 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

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.