Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 288 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,106 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Markel Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 212,990 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,865,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in Moody’s by 6.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 2,126 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,078,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 8.7% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.3% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 30,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,457,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $374.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $68.38 billion, a PE ratio of 42.92, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $296.45 and a one year high of $407.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $384.01 and a 200 day moving average of $369.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.