Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Boosted by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 229,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,796 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $108,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,263,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 7.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,424 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,100,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 2.9% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,816,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, 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 note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $519.18 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $486.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.07. The company has a market cap of $94.08 billion, a PE ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31.

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. 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%. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.57 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.17%.

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.