Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stake Lowered by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 279,106 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 14,891 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.15% of Moody's worth $132,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $988,750,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 92,060.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Moody's by 73.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $534,255,000 after buying an additional 479,599 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 510.8% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 422,624 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $200,058,000 after acquiring an additional 353,431 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Stock Down 4.8 %

MCO traded down $22.80 on Thursday, reaching $448.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 725,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 742,397. 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 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The business's 50 day moving average is $484.78 and its 200 day moving average is $479.80. The stock has a market cap of $80.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.