Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases New Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,196 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,040,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $214,976,000 after purchasing an additional 67,486 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Moody’s by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 593,477 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $284,537,000 after acquiring an additional 19,609 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,191,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 206.6% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 233 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 3.0 %

MCO opened at $465.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.29, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $449.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $472.13. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $377.90 and a twelve month 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays lowered their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.87.

About Moody’s

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.