Oribel Capital Management LP Invests $14.91 Million in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Oribel Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 31,500 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,911,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $524.86.

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Moody's Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $1.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $424.83. The stock had a trading volume of 411,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 769,725. The company has a market cap of $76.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.62, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $472.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $476.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.14% 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.