Mattern Capital Management LLC Acquires 52 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 988 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Mattern Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $468,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted 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 buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings 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 boosted its holdings 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 about $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $511.27 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.03 billion, a PE ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $486.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts anticipate 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 given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.17%.

About Moody’s

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.