Baillie Gifford & Co. Has $382.94 Million Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 60.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 808,968 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,243,077 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.45% of Moody's worth $382,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody's by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,019 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody's by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 503 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,038 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,172,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Moody's by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,551 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody's Stock Down 1.5 %

Moody's stock traded down $8.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $511.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 830,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,625. The company has a market capitalization of $92.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $486.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $480.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 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 analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley upped 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by 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.