Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Sells 4,086 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 68.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,086 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,206 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 24,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,697,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,161,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 384.0% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 363 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $172,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $487.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $481.42. The stock has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a PE ratio of 44.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.