Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 282,022 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 8,102 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned 0.16% of Moody's worth $133,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 566.7% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 272.2% during the third 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. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Mizuho began coverage on Moody's in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $2.52 on Wednesday, reaching $441.33. 516,240 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 699,138. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.39 billion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $488.62 and a 200 day moving average of $482.26. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. 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 (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

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