ING Groep NV Sells 11,529 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

ING Groep NV cut its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 59.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,894 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,529 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Moody's were worth $3,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 11,658 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,533,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC increased its position in Moody's by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 1,289 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Bretton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Moody's during the third quarter worth $3,939,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Moody's by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Moody's by 10.5% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,269 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,975,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Moody's from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James cut Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $8.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $473.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 653,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,132. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $473.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $447.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29. Moody's Co. has a one year low of $352.17 and a one year high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.