Crown Oak Advisors LLC Invests $5.76 Million in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Crown Oak Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 14,747 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,759,000. Moody's accounts for approximately 3.4% of Crown Oak Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $425,827,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Moody's by 277.8% in the 3rd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,544,160 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $488,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,463 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $153,532,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 39.7% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $477,728,000 after buying an additional 429,473 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Moody's from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Moody's from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the business'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 value of $958,945.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded down $6.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $377.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 624,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 665,200. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The company's 50 day moving average is $386.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $367.13. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $296.45 and a fifty-two week high of $407.62. The stock has a market cap of $68.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. Moody's's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 10.67 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

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.