DRW Securities LLC Buys Shares of 1,050 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,050 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Moody's by 101.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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Moody's Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $3.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $434.23. The company had a trading volume of 534,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,429. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $78.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $470.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $475.49.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. StockNews.com downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $524.86.

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.