Graham Capital Management L.P. Invests $3.31 Million in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,314,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Moody's by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,981,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in 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 worth $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody's by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $470,712,000 after buying an additional 31,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 32.5% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MCO traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $485.03. 477,070 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 773,975. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $447.06 and a 200-day moving average of $471.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.