Fmr LLC Reduces Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fmr LLC lessened its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,102,537 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 478,499 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned about 3.37% of Moody’s worth $2,888,758,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Trading Down 9.2 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $482.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $478.93. 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 market capitalization of $72.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.