Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires New Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,301 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,089,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody's by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth approximately $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $841,050,000 after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.87.

Moody's Stock Up 0.7%

Moody's stock traded up $3.25 on Monday, hitting $492.15. 551,290 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 771,035. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $449.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $472.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $88.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business'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 transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.