Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $30.87 Million Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 64,754 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $30,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 83.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody's from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $524.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $5.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $517.78. 451,858 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 716,607. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $485.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $93.82 billion, a PE ratio of 47.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued 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 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.