Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Has $2.34 Million Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 70.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,941 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,981,000 after purchasing an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $470,712,000 after buying an additional 31,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock opened at $463.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $448.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $471.68. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $83.47 billion, a PE ratio of 41.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 32.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.87.

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.

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