Level Four Advisory Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lowered its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 494 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 115 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 44.3% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,100,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 164.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,676 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 890.2% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 5,159 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 4,638 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 37,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $17,912,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 4,300.0% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,483,000 after buying an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $468.29 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $84.24 billion, a PE ratio of 41.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a 50-day moving average of $485.04 and a 200 day moving average of $479.86.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. 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.