Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Acquires 5,600 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 42,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $20,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,003 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 2,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 988 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch SE boosted its stake in Moody’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 201,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $95,412,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $499.62 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $487.10 and a 200-day moving average of $480.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.