Choate Investment Advisors Has $942,000 Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Choate Investment Advisors grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other 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 approximately $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 accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.0 %

MCO opened at $446.67 on Monday. 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 market capitalization of $80.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $486.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $481.41.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.