Legal & General Group Plc Sells 344,426 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,339,270 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 344,426 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.74% of Moody's worth $633,970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 164.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 3,676 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Moody's by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 388.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 122 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the 3rd quarter worth about $304,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 6,504 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,087,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Moody's Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of MCO traded up $5.52 on Friday, hitting $428.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 883,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,536. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $471.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $475.73. 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 quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America began coverage on Moody's in a report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $524.86.

Moody's Company 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.