Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,096 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report 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. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.8 %

MCO opened at $461.97 on Monday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $489.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $482.72. The firm has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.