Independent Advisor Alliance Has $1.64 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 455 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 17.8% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 456 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,368,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $446.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a PEG 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. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $486.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $481.44.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.