Donaldson Capital Management LLC Purchases 713 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,032 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 713 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $10,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $546,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 20.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 14,398 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,833,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 56,195 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $2.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $440.98. 552,012 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,494. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $79.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a PEG 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $488.62 and a 200-day moving average of $482.26.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Moody's Company 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.