HUB Investment Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 832 Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

HUB Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 832 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $394,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $459.73 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $485.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $480.45. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MCO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

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.