Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Has $1.70 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,028 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 16,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 72,689 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,389,000 after purchasing an additional 2,933 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in Moody’s by 392.6% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 24,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,634,000 after buying an additional 19,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Moody’s by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $265,285,000 after buying an additional 14,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 9,756.3% during the first quarter. Motco now owns 1,577 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 1,561 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $456.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Moody’s stock traded up $0.43 on Wednesday, hitting $464.90. 506,244 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 739,680. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $434.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $405.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.89 billion, a PE ratio of 50.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $467.02.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Moody’s Company 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.