Xponance Inc. Has $22.50 Million Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,526 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $22,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Avitas Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the fourth 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 raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the third quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction 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 represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $459.73. 1,091,115 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,382. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $485.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.45. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 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.