Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Wealthsource Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 2.0% during the third quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors raised its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 1,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $374.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $68.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.91, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $296.45 and a 1 year high of $407.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $384.36 and a 200-day moving average of $372.43.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 38.95%.

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.