Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 31.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 877,596 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 397,747 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.48% of Moody's worth $416,499,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Motco boosted its holdings in Moody's by 9,756.3% in the first quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $620,000 after acquiring an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 52.2% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Moody's by 68.1% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 52,600 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $20,673,000 after acquiring an additional 21,300 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,613,867,000 after buying an additional 119,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Moody's by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $13,774,000 after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCO. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody's from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded up $4.43 during trading on Thursday, reaching $465.57. The company had a trading volume of 733,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 739,366. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $475.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $443.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.29. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $334.78 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 12.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.