Flossbach Von Storch SE Boosts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Flossbach Von Storch SE raised its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 201,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,982 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE owned approximately 0.11% of Moody’s worth $95,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position 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 worth $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Moody’s by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 567.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,338,000 after acquiring an additional 68,674 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $519.18 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $480.07. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $94.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

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.