First Manhattan CO. LLC. Sells 4,227 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,757 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,227 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned 0.05% of Moody’s worth $46,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Moody’s by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,008,844 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $477,556,000 after buying an additional 29,895 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Moody’s by 1,160.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 580 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 104.2% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 70.1% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 4,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $471.85 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $446.86 and a 200 day moving average of $471.56. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $84.89 billion, a PE ratio of 41.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $515.87.

Moody’s 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.