AXQ Capital LP Buys 1,366 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AXQ Capital LP raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 208.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,366 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.5% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,369,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $650,187,000 after purchasing an additional 33,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $459.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 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’s 50-day moving average price is $485.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

About Moody’s

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.