Robert Fauber Sells 281 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock

Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Robert Fauber also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 15th, Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19.

Moody's Trading Up 1.3 %

Moody's stock traded up $6.31 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $479.15. The company had a trading volume of 412,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,150. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $478.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $467.06. The firm has a market cap of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year 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.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business's revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

Institutional Trading of Moody's

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Haverford Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 2.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 3.8% during the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $506.14.

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.