Baillie Gifford & Co. Reduces Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 15.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,052,045 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 368,807 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 1.13% of Moody's worth $973,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Moody's by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Moody's by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of Moody's stock traded down $3.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $475.08. 211,711 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 736,742. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $342.16 and a 1 year high of $495.10. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $474.27 and a 200-day moving average of $445.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.