Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 4,544 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,544 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in Moody's were worth $31,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody's by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $546,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody's by 20.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 14,398 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,833,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 3.7% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 56,195 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,670,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 44.2% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. 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 note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $527.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $3.61 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $440.24. 469,766 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 698,892. 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 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.06, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $488.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $482.26.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. 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. 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.