Oribel Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Oribel Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 31,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,911,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Moody’s by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Moody’s by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

Moody’s Trading Down 9.2 %

Moody’s stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $482.15 and a 200-day moving average of $478.93. 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 one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.