J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Has $34.85 Million Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 73,618 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 977 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $34,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $424.40 on Monday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $463.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $474.26. The stock has a market cap of $76.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on 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 upped their target price on 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 upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $524.33.

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.