AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Sells 1,251 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $32,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 83.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.36.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $489.21 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $481.00 and its 200 day moving average is $472.67. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $88.65 billion, a PE ratio of 44.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s 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.