Metis Global Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,447 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $6,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Moody's by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Moody's by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position 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 valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 32.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $6,775,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded down $2.50 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $501.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 497,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,395. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $489.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $482.41. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. 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 issued 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 0.75%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.