Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Has $418,000 Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,069 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,418,296,000 after acquiring an additional 88,667 shares in the last quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,909,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after purchasing an additional 205,800 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,112,947,000 after buying an additional 914,530 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,789,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $851,276,000 after buying an additional 41,746 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $396.08 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $290.98 and a 1 year high of $407.62. The company has a market capitalization of $72.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $387.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $366.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.66 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 38.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total transaction of $958,945.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,368,273.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.