564 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Purchased by Diametric Capital LP

Diametric Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 44.3% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,100,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 3,676 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 890.2% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after buying an additional 4,638 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 37,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 4,300.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,483,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Moody’s stock opened at $468.29 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $485.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $479.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $84.24 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

About Moody’s

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.