Round Hill Asset Management Has $1.56 Million Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Round Hill Asset Management cut its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 43.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,299 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,530 shares during the quarter. Moody's comprises approximately 1.1% of Round Hill Asset Management's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Round Hill Asset Management's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,562,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $988,750,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Moody's by 92,060.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 73.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after acquiring an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in Moody's by 510.8% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $200,058,000 after purchasing an additional 353,431 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $524.86.

Moody's Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $5.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $428.55. 883,782 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 771,945. The company has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G 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 quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $471.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $475.72.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given 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 (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.