Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH

MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH cut its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 355 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,942 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.2% during the fourth 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 period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 392.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 19,660 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $265,285,000 after purchasing an additional 14,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 898,117 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $350,769,000 after purchasing an additional 24,335 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $403.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $426.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.79 billion, a PE ratio of 46.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $428.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $403.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $391.87.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. 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.