Donaldson Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,032 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 713 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE MCO opened at $449.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.00 billion, a PE ratio of 39.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $489.20 and a 200 day moving average of $482.51. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.