Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 250,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 17,064 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $97,954,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 85.5% in the 3rd quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

MCO traded up $3.56 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $382.82. 196,522 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,188. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $383.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $370.41. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $296.45 and a 1 year 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 firm has a market cap of $69.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 38.95%.

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.