Stamos Capital Partners L.P. Increases Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Stamos Capital Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 207.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,600 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Stamos Capital Partners L.P.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth about $988,750,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $727,726,000 after acquiring an additional 53,504 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 73.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $1.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $424.40. The company had a trading volume of 953,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,822. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $463.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $474.19. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped 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. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $524.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.