New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys 716 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 133,505 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.07% of Moody's worth $63,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody's in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 83.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $519.18. 654,897 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 733,675. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.07, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31. The business's fifty day moving average price is $486.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

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.