Signaturefd LLC Has $2.12 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $486.22 and a 200-day moving average of $481.20. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

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.