OFI Invest Asset Management Invests $41,000 in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 90 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 21.0% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,143 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $546,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 20.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 14,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,833,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.7% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 56,195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,670,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 44.2% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,168 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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

Moody’s Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $449.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $489.20 and a 200-day moving average of $482.51. The company has a market cap of $81.00 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.