Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Has $5.78 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for approximately 1.7% of Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during 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 period. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $437.81 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $487.28 and a 200-day moving average of $481.67. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $78.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.85, a P/E/G 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 (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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.