Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $12.46 Million Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,326 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,652 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $12,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 567.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $38,338,000 after purchasing an additional 68,674 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody's Price Performance

Moody's stock traded down $4.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $518.66. 1,015,895 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 722,447. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $485.59 and a 200 day moving average of $479.39. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $93.98 billion, a PE ratio of 47.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced 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 analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.