Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Acquires 79,980 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 14,007.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 80,551 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 79,980 shares during the period. Moody's makes up 1.4% of Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $38,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Moody's by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 229,921 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $108,838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,796 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in Moody's by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 6,703 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,173,000 after acquiring an additional 2,066 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $90,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in Moody's by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,206 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Moody's by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,280 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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 lifted their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody's Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $12.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $499.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,249,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 729,515. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $486.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company 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%. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. 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 0.75%. Moody's's payout ratio is 30.17%.

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.