Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Ninety One North America Inc.

Ninety One North America Inc. lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 174,723 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 28,996 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 3.3% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $68,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 143.8% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 117 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MCO traded up $1.74 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $377.15. 163,288 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 712,202. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $385.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $368.69. The firm has a market cap of $68.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

About Moody’s

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.