Procyon Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 907 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 22.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 24,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,272,000 after buying an additional 4,548 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 19.8% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 9,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 9.3% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 8,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,772,000 after acquiring an additional 762 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 19.5% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Moody’s by 87.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 106,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,780,000 after purchasing an additional 49,493 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $506.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $475.74 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $503.95. The company has a market capitalization of $86.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $480.37 and a 200 day moving average of $470.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.