Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Voya Investment Management LLC

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 460,281 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 89,052 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Moody's worth $217,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at $988,750,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Moody's by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Moody's by 73.6% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO stock traded up $5.42 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $445.20. The stock had a trading volume of 240,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,320. The company's 50 day moving average price is $453.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $472.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $80.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

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.