Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,877 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $30,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 11.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 33,153 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,544,000 after acquiring an additional 3,287 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 5.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 35,695 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 13.1% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of MCO opened at $482.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $490.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.75.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid 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 0.78%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.