Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Position Raised by AXQ Capital LP

AXQ Capital LP raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 208.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $459.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $485.57 and a 200-day moving average of $480.45. The company has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.