Parallel Advisors LLC Has $2.06 Million Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $485.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $80.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.95, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.