Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Short Interest Update

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, a growth of 43.5% from the February 13th total of 1,910,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 50.4% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,119,000 after acquiring an additional 5,041 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 36,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,512,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $1,753,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 561.5% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 41,179 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $19,493,000 after acquiring an additional 34,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHE LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. GHE LLC now owns 16,562 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,840,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. Moody’s has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $486.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $481.20. The company has a market capitalization of $81.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly 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. 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody’s will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. 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. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on MCO shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of 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 began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

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.