Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Raised by HighPoint Advisor Group LLC

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth 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 period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted 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 purchasing an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. 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. UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO opened at $465.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $485.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.92. 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 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $83.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Moody’s 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.