Natixis Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 158,614 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,084 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $75,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Van Strum & Towne Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc. now owns 4,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 12,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,784,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $317,000. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 89.1% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 7,132 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,376,000 after acquiring an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 33,915 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,071,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $446.67 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $486.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $481.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced 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 return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

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.