1,270 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Purchased by Fielder Capital Group LLC

Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $601,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,421 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 92,060.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its stake in Moody’s by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 65,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,040,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 15,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,376,000 after buying an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased 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. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $493.65 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $488.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $481.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.