Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Howard Capital Management Inc.

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $475,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 510.8% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,058,000 after buying an additional 353,431 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Moody’s stock opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $487.34 and its 200-day moving average is $481.42. 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 cap of $90.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. 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 accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

About Moody’s

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.