Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 491 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. National Pension Service raised its stake in Moody’s by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 415,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $196,579,000 after buying an additional 70,599 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 2,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 4,481 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,121,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 393.0% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 277,040 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $131,142,000 after buying an additional 220,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $342,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.9 %

MCO opened at $493.65 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month 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 50-day moving average price of $488.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $481.88. The company has a market cap of $88.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.