Edgestream Partners L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 82.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,413 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,254 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $461.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $489.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.61. 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 market cap of $83.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. 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 yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.