Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Exchange Capital Management Inc.

Exchange Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,888 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Exchange Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 510.8% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $200,058,000 after buying an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $487.34 and a 200-day moving average of $481.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

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.