Prudential Financial Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,505 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 11,712 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $38,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in Moody's by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 32,846 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,549,000 after buying an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,956,684,000 after acquiring an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 113,273 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $53,620,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 5,708 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,702,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $42,206,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $7.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $461.09. 535,573 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,111. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.91, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $485.56 and its 200 day moving average is $480.01.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

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.