Rhumbline Advisers Sells 5,247 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 327,891 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,247 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.18% of Moody's worth $155,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in Moody's by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $34,715,000 after purchasing an additional 10,350 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Moody's by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,505 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $63,197,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Moody's by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 64,754 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $30,872,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $519.18. 654,697 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 733,675. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $486.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.80. The stock has a market cap of $94.08 billion, a PE ratio of 46.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 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.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Equities analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.57 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 0.72%. 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 is currently 30.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody's from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

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.