Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Buys 970 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 970 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 164.1% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,676 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 4,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,483,000 after buying an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth $1,522,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $307,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE MCO opened at $471.66 on Thursday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $484.78 and a 200-day moving average of $479.80. The company has a market cap of $84.85 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a PEG 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.