Evoke Wealth LLC Reduces Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Evoke Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,577 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,505 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $12,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $459.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,091,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 707,382. The firm has a market cap of $82.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The business's 50-day moving average is $485.57 and its 200 day moving average is $480.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Mizuho started coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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.