Banco Santander S.A. Has $9.14 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,308 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 305 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $9,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Moody’s by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,775,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $461.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.15 billion, a PE ratio of 40.99, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $489.67 and its 200-day moving average is $482.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.