DnB Asset Management AS Buys 1,011 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,011 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted 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 worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $461.09 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $485.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $480.03. The company has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a PE ratio of 40.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.