Enhancing Capital LLC Buys Shares of 2,000 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $947,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 456 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,780 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,692,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,583,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $698,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,699,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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Moody's Stock Down 0.0 %

MCO stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $459.73. 1,091,115 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,382. The company has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a PE ratio of 40.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $485.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.45.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $527.00.

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.