Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Mattern Capital Management LLC

Mattern Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 988 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after acquiring an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’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 directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE MCO opened at $511.27 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $486.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $480.29. The firm has a market cap of $92.03 billion, a PE ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 30.17%.

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.