LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Acquires 17,837 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 2,316.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,607 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 17,837 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $7,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,455 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,810 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,222,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $265,285,000 after acquiring an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $240,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,728 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,018,000 after acquiring an additional 545 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody's Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $1.89 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $484.14. 636,291 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 726,714. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $490.18. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $458.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $417.64. The company has a market capitalization of $88.16 billion, a PE ratio of 52.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody's from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody's from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody's from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $465.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. 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.