Cantillon Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 474,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,537 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $224,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Haverford Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of MCO opened at $503.63 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $90.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $489.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $482.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. 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. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.