Zacks Investment Management Decreases Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Zacks Investment Management decreased its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,027 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 8,360 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in Moody's were worth $29,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 80.6% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America began coverage on Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $524.33.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $1.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $424.40. The stock had a trading volume of 953,319 shares, compared to its average volume of 772,822. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $463.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $474.19. Moody's Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $76.34 billion, a PE ratio of 37.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.