Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 132,301 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 745,295 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 132,301 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.41% of Moody's worth $352,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $11,263,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,482 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody's by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 3rd quarter worth $308,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 108.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,485 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $705,000 after acquiring an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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 issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO traded down $8.00 on Thursday, hitting $511.27. 830,430 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 736,625. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $486.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.03 billion, a PE ratio of 45.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week 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 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 30.17%.

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.