Montag A & Associates Inc. Trims Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 59.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 61 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 224,928 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $106,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $727,726,000 after buying an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its stake in Moody’s by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 73,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,715,000 after buying an additional 10,350 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 133,505 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $63,197,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted 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. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $518.66 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $485.59 and its 200 day moving average is $479.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.37, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.