Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Sells 7,506 Shares of Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lessened its holdings in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) by 3.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 202,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,506 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $96,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 7,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% during the second quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC now owns 1,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 50.0% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 3.4% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 693 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $574.00 price objective on Moody’s and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $539.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $520.00 to $526.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $560.94.

Moody’s Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of MCO opened at $517.11 on Wednesday. Moody’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $546.88. The firm has a market cap of $92.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $502.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $499.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 63.58% and a net margin of 29.92%.The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.21 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 1,167 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.95, for a total transaction of $558,934.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,255,223.90. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,739 shares of company stock valued at $841,445 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Profile

Moody’s Corporation is a global provider of credit ratings, research, data and analytics that support financial decision-making and transparency in capital markets. The company traces its origins to the early 20th century when financial analyst John Moody began publishing credit information; today Moody’s is headquartered in New York and serves a broad set of market participants including investors, issuers, financial institutions, corporations, governments and regulators.

Moody’s operates primarily through two complementary businesses.