Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 634,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 156,120 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $300,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after buying an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $988,750,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $727,726,000 after acquiring an additional 53,504 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on MCO. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 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. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $482.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $478.96. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.