Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd Acquires New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,941,000. Moody’s accounts for about 1.7% of Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $482.15 and a 200-day moving average of $478.96. The company has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Company 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.