27,000 Shares in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Purchased by Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.

Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. acquired a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 27,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $12,781,000. Moody's accounts for 7.0% of Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 92,060.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Moody's by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in shares of Moody's by 510.8% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $200,058,000 after purchasing an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $150,376,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target 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. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody's Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $7.89 on Friday, hitting $461.09. The company had a trading volume of 535,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,111. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $485.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $480.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.