Rathbones Group PLC Has $3.69 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,794 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 855 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $397.70 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $71.54 billion, a PE ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $480.18 and a 200-day moving average of $478.24.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given 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 0.95%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Barclays dropped their target price on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Company 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.