Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 307 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,857 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 307 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 92,060.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $290,112,000 after acquiring an additional 612,200 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Moody’s by 73.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,255,000 after acquiring an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% during 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. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $485.94 and a 200-day moving average of $480.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

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.