Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stake Raised by Natixis

Natixis lifted its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 76.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,807 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 26,766 shares during the period. Natixis' holdings in Moody's were worth $29,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded down $10.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $414.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,215,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 774,404. The firm has a market cap of $74.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.74, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $461.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $473.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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, April 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.33.

Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.