Ballast Advisors LLC Purchases 242 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ballast Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Moody’s by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Moody’s by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $459.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $485.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.65. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

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.