Venturi Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 421 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MCO shares. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE MCO opened at $518.66 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $486.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $479.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $93.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 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 the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 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 paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.