Allianz SE Purchases New Shares in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,590 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,068,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $791,000. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,310,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Moody's by 176.5% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,643 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,565,000 after buying an additional 6,156 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in Moody's by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 30,661 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $14,514,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 4.8 %

Shares of MCO stock traded down $22.66 on Thursday, reaching $448.23. 362,921 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 740,978. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $80.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.77, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $484.78 and a 200-day moving average of $479.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

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Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.