Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Has $1.72 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $258,000. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 3,455 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 6,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,235,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 31,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,981,000 after purchasing an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $441.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $487.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $481.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change 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 0.85%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.