FIL Ltd Boosts Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,510 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,399 shares during the period. FIL Ltd's holdings in Moody's were worth $34,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $988,750,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 92,060.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 73.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $534,255,000 after buying an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 510.8% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $200,058,000 after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $150,376,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded down $5.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $429.27. 143,438 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 770,021. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $468.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $475.20. 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 market capitalization of $77.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders 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 an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $522.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 977 shares of company stock worth $477,848. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.