Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Buys 37 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 1.4% of Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its position in Moody’s by 510.8% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $200,058,000 after purchasing an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $501.77 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a PE ratio of 44.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $487.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $481.68. 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 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. 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 dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change 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 is 33.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.