Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 137,266 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 365,161 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 137,266 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.20% of Moody's worth $172,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $214,976,000 after purchasing an additional 67,486 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 210.4% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,409,000 after buying an additional 10,582 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moody's by 3.3% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,989,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Moody's by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 538.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,544 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,361,000 after acquiring an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.87.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $438.86 on Friday. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $454.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $473.00. The company has a market cap of $78.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Moody's's payout ratio is 32.47%.

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.

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