Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 229,921 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,796 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.13% of Moody’s worth $108,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. 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 at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $519.18 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $486.56 and a 200-day moving average of $480.07. The firm has a market cap of $94.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. 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. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

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.