HWG Holdings LP Raises Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

HWG Holdings LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8,378.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,640 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 1.8% of HWG Holdings LP’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. HWG Holdings LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.8% in the first quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 53,192 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,906,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 42.2% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 4.6% in the first quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,035,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $234,000. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 16.4% during the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.4 %

MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $478.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $437.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.