Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 68,627 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,627 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.03% of Moody’s worth $1,738,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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, February 18th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of MCO opened at $468.29 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $485.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $479.86.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.