Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 380 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $153,532,000. White Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $244,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Moody’s by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 79,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,580 shares in the last quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 37,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,479,000 after purchasing an additional 7,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in Moody’s by 323.3% in the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 44,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,927,000 after purchasing an additional 33,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.2 %

MCO opened at $374.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $384.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $368.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.73 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 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 38.95%.

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.