Short Interest in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Declines By 20.8%

Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a decline of 20.8% from the October 31st total of 1,830,000 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 753,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $499.98. The company had a trading volume of 507,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 736,982. Moody's has a one year low of $358.68 and a one year high of $503.95. The firm has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a PE ratio of 45.67, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $474.60 and a 200 day moving average of $454.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody's will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody's news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody's

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 74,000.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 32.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Raymond James cut Moody's from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody's from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $500.00.

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.