Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Acquires 87 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $390.42.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total transaction of $958,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.8 %

Moody’s stock traded up $3.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $393.46. The company had a trading volume of 318,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 716,805. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $386.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $362.64. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $290.98 and a 12 month high of $407.62. The company has a market capitalization of $71.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

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.