Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 524 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 12.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,768 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $6,775,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 567.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,338,000 after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents 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 worth $1,178,413 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $1.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $485.84. 515,769 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 603,538. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $480.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $472.19. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $88.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.