GWN Securities Inc. Takes Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 534 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value 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 $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of 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 issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment 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, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $486.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $481.20. The stock has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.