Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Grows Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $20,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $499.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $487.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.92.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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 is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped 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, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Company 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.