DnB Asset Management AS Increases Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,661 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS's holdings in Moody's were worth $14,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Moody's by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 13.0% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at about $988,750,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $2.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $470.84. 233,966 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 742,547. The firm has a market cap of $84.70 billion, a PE ratio of 41.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $485.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $479.86.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.