Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by NorthRock Partners LLC

NorthRock Partners LLC grew its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 180.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,728 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,981,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $470,712,000 after acquiring an additional 31,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMJ Financial Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at $312,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of MCO traded up $3.25 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $492.15. 551,525 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 771,035. The firm has a market cap of $88.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $449.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $472.55. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MCO. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's 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.