Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by Signaturefd LLC

Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $486.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $481.20. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, 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 on the stock. One equities research 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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.