Ghe LLC Raises Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ghe LLC grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Moody’s makes up approximately 3.1% of Ghe LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Ghe LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $499.62 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.33, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $487.10 and its 200-day moving average is $481.13.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.