Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. Acquires 53 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,166 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises approximately 5.9% of Alapocas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Alapocas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 101.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,601,631.48. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer increased 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody’s in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $524.86.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $428.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $471.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $475.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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. The business 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, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.