Picton Mahoney Asset Management Sells 690 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management reduced its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,120 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 690 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody's Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.74 during trading on Thursday, hitting $459.57. 778,074 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 705,744. The firm has a market cap of $82.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $485.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.79. 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 Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend 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.