Oribel Capital Management LP Invests $14.91 Million in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Oribel Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 31,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,911,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Moody’s by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 634,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $300,231,000 after buying an additional 156,120 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $283,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,941,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MCO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $401.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $482.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $478.93. The company has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 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 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.