Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 33,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $15,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,263,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 674 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in Moody’s by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 17,554 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,331,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.62.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $522.76 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $484.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $478.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.74, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its 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 net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

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.