Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Moody’s by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $6,775,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $487.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $481.42. The company has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a PE ratio of 44.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s payout ratio 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.