Taika Capital LP Acquires Shares of 6,846 Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Taika Capital LP acquired a new stake in 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 institutional investor acquired 6,846 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,241,000. Moody's comprises approximately 2.5% of Taika Capital LP's portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in Moody's by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Moody's by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Stock Down 0.5 %

Moody's stock traded down $2.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $441.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,116,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 702,893. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $487.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $481.97. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Moody's 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.