Unigestion Holding SA Increases Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 53.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,214 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,920 shares during the quarter. Unigestion Holding SA's holdings in Moody's were worth $5,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.87.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded up $3.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $485.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 565,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,751. The business's fifty day moving average price is $454.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $473.28. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $87.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

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

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.