XXEC Inc. Has $6.83 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

XXEC Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,426 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 462 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for approximately 5.7% of XXEC Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. XXEC Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 9,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,406,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. AMJ Financial Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $312,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Moody’s by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $470,712,000 after purchasing an additional 31,780 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Down 4.2 %

MCO opened at $481.05 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $490.15 and a 200 day moving average of $482.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $86.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.