1,671 Shares in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Bought by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,671 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $791,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,310,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in Moody's by 176.5% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,643 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,565,000 after purchasing an additional 6,156 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 30,661 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $272,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,531 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,092,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded up $2.88 on Wednesday, hitting $471.66. 636,022 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,081. The company has a 50 day moving average of $485.04 and a 200 day moving average of $479.86. The stock has a market cap of $84.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio 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.