AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Sells 2,319 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,319 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $33,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Moody’s by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% during the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $686,230,000 after purchasing an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $477.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $86.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $474.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $444.01. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $337.80 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

About Moody’s

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.