Everence Capital Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Haverford Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 2.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3 %

Moody’s stock opened at $479.15 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $478.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.06. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $503.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a PE ratio of 43.76, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,326. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.