Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd Purchases Shares of 4,100 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,100 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,941,000. Moody's accounts for approximately 1.7% of Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional increased its holdings in Moody's by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $523.43.

Moody's Trading Down 5.2 %

MCO traded down $23.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $415.57. 565,613 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 896,587. 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 fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company's fifty day moving average price is $473.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $476.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. 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. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 approximately $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.