UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,243 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,272 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in Moody's were worth $22,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, 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. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $7.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $461.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 535,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,111. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $485.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.00. 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 $82.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. 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. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.