Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 21.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,845 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Moody's were worth $16,227,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 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 during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 2.0%

MCO stock traded down $9.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $471.57. 471,871 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 762,284. The company has a market capitalization of $84.84 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. 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 twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $461.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $473.48.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.40.

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.