Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Purchases New Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 500 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 474,082 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $224,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 13,447 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Moody's by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 22,121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,472,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,396,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $503.68. The company had a trading volume of 422,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,068. 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 $90.66 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The firm's fifty day moving average is $489.59 and its 200 day moving average is $482.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.