Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 3,968 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,050 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,968 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $20,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Garrison Point Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Unigestion Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 7,294 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,453,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,478 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,593,000 after acquiring an additional 3,582 shares during the period. Oribel Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $14,911,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $9.02 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $437.45. 107,854 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 769,986. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $471.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $475.73. The company has a market cap of $78.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

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Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm 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, research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $524.86.

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.