Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 5,415 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,863 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,415 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $15,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Moody's by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Moody's by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $527.00.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody'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 value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded down $3.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $440.40. 469,766 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 698,896. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. 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 has a 50-day simple moving average of $488.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $482.26.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.