Kintegral Advisory LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Kintegral Advisory LLC lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,836 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 738 shares during the quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $7,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 12.3% during the third 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 416,535 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 valued at $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $499.62 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $89.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $487.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.70.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.17%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s 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.