Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 176.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,643 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,156 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $4,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at $273,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Moody's by 9.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,367,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 44.3% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,333 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,582,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho started 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded down $22.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $448.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 362,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,978. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company's 50 day moving average is $484.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $479.80. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $80.63 billion, a PE ratio of 39.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's 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.