Mizuho Bank Ltd. Takes Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 140 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,941,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $23,646,000. Prudential PLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 167.7% in the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 31,966 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,132,000 after acquiring an additional 20,024 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Capital Management LLC NJ raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Quantum Capital Management LLC NJ now owns 68,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,359,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Stock Down 9.2 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $401.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $482.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $478.96.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.