Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 76 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 92,060.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $290,112,000 after purchasing an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 73.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

MCO stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $485.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.94.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

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.