Capital International Investors Purchases 60 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Capital International Investors increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $59,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after buying an additional 68,627 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $988,750,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $727,726,000 after buying an additional 53,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 73.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,255,000 after buying an additional 479,599 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3 %

MCO stock opened at $424.40 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $463.77 and its 200 day moving average is $474.22. The company has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $524.33.

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.