Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Olstein Capital Management L.P.

Olstein Capital Management L.P. cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Applied Capital LLC FL lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 5,984 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,352,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 11.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 12,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in Moody’s by 3.4% in the first quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 29,710 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,677,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,336,000 after buying an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MCO traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $425.99. The company had a trading volume of 195,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 712,682. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $428.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $404.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $392.13. The stock has a market cap of $77.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

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.