Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Takes Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $469.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.65, a P/E/G 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $485.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.18. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts predict 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 given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.