Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 26,702 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,873 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 26,702 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.08% of Moody's worth $64,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after buying an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth approximately $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Moody's by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $841,050,000 after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Moody's by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,590,679 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $752,980,000 after acquiring an additional 220,681 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $2.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $479.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,422,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 771,615. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $453.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $473.27. 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 one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

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 firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

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.