Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,954 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.06% of Moody’s worth $42,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 98.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after acquiring an additional 12,588 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $26,985,000. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $460.59. 1,283,824 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 870,865. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $427.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $402.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $462.66.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Richard G. Steele 1,506 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.