FIL Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

FIL Ltd lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,399 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $34,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $422.65 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.03 billion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $472.50 and its 200 day moving average is $476.05. 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 quarterly 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 return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $524.86.

About Moody’s

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.