Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,176,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after acquiring an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $462.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $478.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $438.56. 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 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.