Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Acquires 220,845 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 393.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 277,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 220,845 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $131,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,306,000 after acquiring an additional 1,990 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,632,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares during the period. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth $225,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $487.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $481.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.