Allworth Financial LP Purchases 43 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,551 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 224,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $106,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,183 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $727,726,000 after acquiring an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,715,000 after acquiring an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,505 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,197,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $486.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.29. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $92.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 30.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Moody’s

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.