Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Increased by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,331 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $424.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. 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’s fifty day moving average is $463.77 and its 200-day moving average is $474.22. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. 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 0.89%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

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.