Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. Takes $12.78 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 27,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,781,000. Moody’s comprises approximately 7.0% of Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $469.55 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $486.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.25. The firm has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.