Moody’s Corporation $MCO Stock: King Luther Capital Management Corp Trims Position

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its stake in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 10.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 219,439 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 25,176 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $99,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 87.1% in the first quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 58 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth $34,000. Balance Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Moody’s from $521.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Evercore upped their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $588.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $511.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Moody’s from $557.00 to $572.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Moody’s from $470.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $552.63.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $514.47 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $477.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $466.88. The firm has a market cap of $88.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.35, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.30. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $402.28 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The business services provider reported $4.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.25 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 35.26% and a return on equity of 84.76%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.92 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Moody’s Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 20th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 20th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 25.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Jason Phillips sold 95 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $519.33, for a total value of $49,336.35. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 1,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $934,274.67. This represents a 5.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $510.75, for a total transaction of $890,237.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,234,163. This trade represents a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,282 shares of company stock worth $6,509,459. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and risk-analysis services. Through Moody’s Investors Service, it assesses the creditworthiness of businesses, governments and financial instruments, providing ratings and related research to investors and other market participants. Its Moody’s Analytics business offers data, software and analytical tools used in areas such as credit and financial risk management, compliance, and economic research. The company serves clients across international markets, including financial institutions, corporations, governments and investors.