Banque Pictet & Cie SA Trims Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA decreased its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 120,017 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,564 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA owned about 0.07% of Moody's worth $56,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 valued at $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 12.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 22.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moody's by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total transaction of $138,932.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.8 %

Moody's stock traded down $4.18 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $518.66. 1,015,962 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 735,294. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $485.59 and a 200 day moving average of $479.39. The firm has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.37, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody's 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.