Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Trimmed by Mutual of America Capital Management LLC

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 618 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $8,837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. FMR LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 92,060.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 612,865 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $290,112,000 after buying an additional 612,200 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the third 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 during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $503.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $90.65 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $489.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $482.30. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.