Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $3.17 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,703 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,066 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Moody’s by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of 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 lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $522.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $522.76 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $484.94 and a 200-day moving average of $478.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.