Burney Co. Takes Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Burney Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,312 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,775,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 32.0% during the third 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 buying an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,243 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,326 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup began coverage on Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody's from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $506.14.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $9.11 on Wednesday, reaching $471.69. The stock had a trading volume of 681,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 607,117. 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 stock has a market cap of $85.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.30. The business's 50-day moving average price is $479.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $470.30. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $503.95.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business's revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.