Corient Private Wealth LLC Sells 7,665 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Corient Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,213 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,665 shares during the quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC owned 0.06% of Moody's worth $49,805,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup began coverage on Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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Insider Activity

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $459.73. 1,091,114 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 707,699. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $485.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $480.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a PE ratio of 40.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.