Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys New Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Wedbush Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 597 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position 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 worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $439.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $79.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $473.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $476.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS 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 paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Moody’s 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.