Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Longview Partners Guernsey LTD

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD decreased its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,408,904 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 60,963 shares during the period. Moody's accounts for approximately 5.0% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD owned 0.78% of Moody's worth $666,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody's by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter worth about $988,750,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $727,726,000 after buying an additional 53,504 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 73.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Moody's in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $524.33.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of MCO stock traded up $13.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $426.88. 369,009 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 897,262. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The business's fifty day moving average is $461.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $473.94.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Moody's's payout ratio is 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.