Sarasin & Partners LLP Acquires 28,823 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Sarasin & Partners LLP grew its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 591,232 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 28,823 shares during the quarter. Moody's accounts for 2.8% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.33% of Moody's worth $280,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,571 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,327,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $777,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 0.3%

MCO stock traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $486.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 171,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 762,022. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $454.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $473.36. The stock has a market cap of $87.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $378.71 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 price target on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $519.40.

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.