PineStone Asset Management Inc. Has $727.73 Million Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 53,504 shares during the quarter. Moody's makes up 6.8% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.85% of Moody's worth $727,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 14.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,263,000 after buying an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 21.0% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 674 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $320,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 83.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 14.1% during the third quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 655 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.7% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,652,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody's Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $0.40 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $519.18. 655,302 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 733,694. The business's 50-day moving average price is $486.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $479.80. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve 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. The company has a market capitalization of $94.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 0.72%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.17%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. 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 link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% 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.