Achmea Investment Management B.V. Sells 1,039 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. decreased its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 45,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,039 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $21,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. bought a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,775,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $441.64 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $487.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $481.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $79.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% 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.