Avestar Capital LLC Has $375,000 Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 793 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. 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 accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $522.76 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $484.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $478.15. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $522.62.

About Moody’s

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.