Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 176.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,156 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its stake in Moody’s by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $461.09 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $82.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $485.56 and a 200 day moving average of $480.00. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer upped 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, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.