PDS Planning Inc Sells 31 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

PDS Planning Inc decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 57.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,692,000 after purchasing an additional 2,831 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,699,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NS Partners Ltd raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 76,746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $36,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $485.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.94. The company has a market cap of $80.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.95, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.