DF Dent & Co. Inc. Has $213.88 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 451,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,729 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for approximately 2.7% of DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $213,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCO. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $471.66 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.85 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $484.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $479.80. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.