Dearborn Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 546 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after purchasing an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $6,775,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.4 %

MCO stock opened at $444.11 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $488.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $482.26. 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 capitalization of $79.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Moody’s

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.