Parallel Advisors LLC Has $2.06 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $485.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.94.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 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 0.84%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.