Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Guggenheim Capital LLC

Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,562 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Moody's by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.87.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 2.0 %

MCO traded up $8.71 on Thursday, reaching $439.48. 658,706 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 779,846. The company's 50 day moving average is $458.17 and its 200-day moving average is $473.35. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $79.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.00, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. 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.