Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $273,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 10.7% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 722 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Moody’s by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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 $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MCO opened at $469.44 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $485.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $480.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

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.