Americana Partners LLC Invests $6.92 Million in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Americana Partners LLC bought a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,608 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,915,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Moody's by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $8.00 during trading on Thursday, hitting $511.27. 830,430 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 736,625. The stock has a market cap of $92.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $486.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $480.07. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target 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. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.