Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Decreases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership reduced its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 43.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 55,158 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $33,980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at $273,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 722 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 31.9% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 9.4% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on MCO. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $461.09 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $485.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.03. 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 company has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.91, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.