Little House Capital LLC Has $280,000 Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Little House Capital LLC decreased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 591 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $522.76 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a 50 day moving average of $484.94 and a 200-day moving average of $478.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.74, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $522.62.

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.