Yousif Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,676 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 211 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $8,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Panoramic Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Panoramic Capital Partners LLC now owns 601 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.1% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $834,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 19.0% during the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,511,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 13.5% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,645 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.8% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Moody’s from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Moody’s from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $519.40.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $485.16 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.05, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $456.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $473.69.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% 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.