Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 72,410 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,411 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $34,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded up $8.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $477.52. The company had a trading volume of 754,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 708,448. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $485.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.31. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend 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.