Blueshift Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 58.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 717 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Moody's by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup started coverage on Moody's in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of MCO stock traded down $7.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $469.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 649,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 708,210. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $486.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.33. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

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.