First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 447,061 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 29,003 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.25% of Moody's worth $211,625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 722 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,425 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $675,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 2,970 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,406,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth about $351,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in Moody's by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 172,684 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $81,719,000 after purchasing an additional 6,109 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

Moody's Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of MCO traded up $8.71 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $439.48. The company had a trading volume of 973,917 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,846. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company's fifty day moving average price is $458.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $473.35. The company has a market capitalization of $79.06 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.