Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,572 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $31,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Moody’s by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Moody’s by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the period. 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. Finally, Burney Co. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $6,775,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $498.05 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $488.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $481.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. 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, February 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

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.