Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $3.17 Million Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 44.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,703 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Moody's were worth $3,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $6,775,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody's Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $12.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $499.62. The stock had a trading volume of 1,348,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 754,611. The company has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $487.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.70. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's 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.