Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL cut its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,867 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $21,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.1 %

Moody’s stock opened at $469.44 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $84.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.65, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $485.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

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.