Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Has $15.55 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $15,549,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 13.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $727,726,000 after acquiring an additional 53,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $469.48 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $485.79 and its 200-day moving average is $480.31. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. 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 stock has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.