Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Asset Management One Co. Ltd.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 79,887 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,580 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $31,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Markel Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 212,990 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $71,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,750 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Moody's by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,126 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 1st quarter worth $1,078,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its stake in Moody's by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 30,994 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $10,457,000 after buying an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody's from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded Moody's from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody's Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE MCO traded up $0.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $392.47. The stock had a trading volume of 619,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 727,842. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.27. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $290.98 and a one year high of $407.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $387.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.77.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody's had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total transaction of $958,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's 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.