Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $12.46 Million Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,652 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $12,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer boosted 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $522.62.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Moody’s stock opened at $522.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $484.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $478.15.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.