Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Sei Investments Co.

Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 27.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 123,444 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 26,249 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned about 0.07% of Moody's worth $58,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Moody's by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

Moody's stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $469.44. 526,672 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,385. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $486.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $480.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

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

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.