Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Your Advocates Ltd. LLP

Your Advocates Ltd. LLP lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 253 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $120,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in Moody’s by 510.8% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $200,058,000 after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective 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, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $499.62 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $89.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.33, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $487.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.92. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm 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 forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

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.