Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Has $1.48 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $485.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $480.94. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $80.99 billion, a PE ratio of 39.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.