King Luther Capital Management Corp Decreases Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 290,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,696 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.16% of Moody’s worth $137,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $141,336,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $474.54 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $358.49 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $473.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

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.