Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Has $38,000 Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd cut its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 93.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 80 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,082 shares during the quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% during 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 raised its holdings in Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised 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 worth $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $439.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $79.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $473.99 and its 200 day moving average is $476.45. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results 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 for 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,601,631.48. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

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.