Evoke Wealth LLC Trims Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Evoke Wealth LLC lessened its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the period. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $12,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $486.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $481.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business 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 is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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.