Smith Salley Wealth Management Purchases 593 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Smith Salley Wealth Management grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCOFree Report) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 593 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 510.8% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,058,000 after purchasing an additional 353,431 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 81.2% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,761,000 after buying an additional 1,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 1,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $475.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $480.37 and a 200-day moving average of $470.75. The stock has a market cap of $86.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCOGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $506.14.

View Our Latest Report on MCO

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Moody’s

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Moody's (NYSE:MCO)

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