Corient Private Wealth LLC Has $49.81 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Corient Private Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 105,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,665 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $49,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd 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 during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap 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. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $486.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $481.20. 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 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during 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%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

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.