AlphaQuest LLC Sells 129 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 129 shares during the period. Moody’s makes up about 0.3% of AlphaQuest LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in Moody’s by 566.7% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note 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 research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $461.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $489.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $482.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. 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 paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.