Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 188.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,478 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,582 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho began coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $522.87.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $9.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $425.58. 635,045 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 771,896. The company's 50 day moving average price is $468.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $475.20. The firm has a market cap of $76.56 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.