Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Acquires 67 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 508 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $474,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 42,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 2,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $498.05 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $89.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $488.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $481.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.