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

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, an increase of 43.5% from the February 13th total of 1,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho began 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 on the stock. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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 note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $453.54 on Tuesday. Moody’s has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company has a market cap of $81.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $486.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $481.20.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Research analysts expect that Moody’s will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This trade represents a 0.45 % 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 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moody’s

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after buying an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Moody’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

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.