Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) is AKO Capital LLP's 10th Largest Position

AKO Capital LLP reduced its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 653,387 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 30,073 shares during the period. Moody's accounts for about 4.3% of AKO Capital LLP's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. AKO Capital LLP owned 0.36% of Moody's worth $309,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its position 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 valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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 on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded down $7.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $461.09. 535,573 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,111. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $82.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.91, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $485.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $480.00.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

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.