Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. Sells 1,800 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. reduced its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 40.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,680 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,800 shares during the quarter. Moody's makes up approximately 0.6% of Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $1,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $601,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,395 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $8,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,747 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,194,000 after buying an additional 2,421 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 92,060.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 65,572 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,040,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $20.95 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $481.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,088,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,757. Moody's Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $490.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $482.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

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.