HUB Investment Partners LLC purchased 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 SEC. The firm purchased 832 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $394,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.
Moody's Price Performance
Shares of MCO traded down $7.69 on Wednesday, reaching $469.55. The stock had a trading volume of 649,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 708,210. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $486.09 and a 200 day moving average of $480.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.
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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.
Moody's Increases Dividend
The firm 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. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. 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. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have commented on MCO. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $527.00.
View Our Latest Report on MCO
Insider Activity
In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
About Moody's
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Free Report)
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.
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