Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Ycg LLC

Ycg LLC lowered its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 181,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up about 6.8% of Ycg LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Ycg LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $85,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. FMR LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 92,060.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $290,112,000 after acquiring an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 73.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $534,255,000 after purchasing an additional 479,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $444.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $488.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $482.26. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on MCO shares. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

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.