Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,339,270 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 344,426 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.74% of Moody’s worth $633,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $523.43.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.2 %

Moody’s stock opened at $397.70 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $480.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $478.24. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.29, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

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