Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Boosts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,888 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.1% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,434,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Kerusso Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 8,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $470.16 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $84.63 billion, a PE ratio of 41.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $489.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $482.66. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MCO. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued 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 given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s 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.