Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Boston Family Office LLC

Boston Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 576 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Diametric Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $267,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 14,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on 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 upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

MCO opened at $468.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $485.04 and a 200-day moving average of $479.86. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 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.