BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Raises Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,916 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,331 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $988,750,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 92,060.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 73.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,255,000 after acquiring an additional 479,599 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 510.8% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,058,000 after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,376,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target 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, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $524.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $424.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $76.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $463.77 and its 200-day moving average is $474.22. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

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.