Artemis Investment Management LLP Decreases Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Artemis Investment Management LLP cut its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,170 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,593 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Moody's were worth $29,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in Moody's by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 2.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. raised its stake in Moody's by 0.8% in the third quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Moody's by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody's Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MCO traded down $3.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $475.74. The stock had a trading volume of 768,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The business's fifty day moving average is $480.37 and its 200 day moving average is $471.38. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The firm has a market cap of $86.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 12.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody's from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $506.14.

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.