Fiduciary Group LLC Decreases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fiduciary Group LLC lessened its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 368 shares during the quarter. Moody’s comprises approximately 2.2% of Fiduciary Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $22,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $460.25 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $485.69 and its 200-day moving average is $480.79. The stock has a market cap of $82.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released 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 company 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 predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.