Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Meridian Wealth Management LLC

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 41.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 625 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Haverford Trust Co increased its position in Moody’s by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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, Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MCO opened at $482.12 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $490.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $482.75. 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 company has a market capitalization of $86.78 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. 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.