Northern Trust Corp Raises Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 302,453 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.98% of Moody's worth $841,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Moody's by 17.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $214,976,000 after acquiring an additional 67,486 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 210.4% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,409,000 after acquiring an additional 10,582 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 3.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,989,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Moody's by 29.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 538.4% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,544 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,361,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Up 0.3 %

Moody's stock opened at $440.02 on Tuesday. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $79.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.04, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.78.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

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.

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