Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Buys 6,156 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 176.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,643 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,156 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.7 %

MCO stock opened at $461.09 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $485.56 and its 200 day moving average is $480.00. The company has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a PE ratio of 40.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

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.