Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 24.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 136,873 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,702 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $64,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MCO. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.43.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 9.2 %

MCO opened at $401.74 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $482.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $478.96. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.