Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,253 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $24,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Moody’s by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,418,296,000 after buying an additional 88,667 shares during the period. Akre Capital Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 0.7% during the first quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,909,643,000 after buying an additional 38,615 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after buying an additional 205,800 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,789,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $851,276,000 after purchasing an additional 41,746 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $377.16 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $386.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $367.87. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $296.45 and a 52 week high of $407.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $68.83 billion, a PE ratio of 43.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.67 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 38.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total transaction of $958,945.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 54,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.