Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Has $318,000 Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA reduced its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 31.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 679 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 316 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $318,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $67,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Moody’s from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Moody’s from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Moody’s from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $519.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $471.57 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $461.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $473.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $84.84 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.47%.

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.