Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Position Lessened by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP lowered its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 751 shares during the quarter. CenterBook Partners LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Moody’s by 101.9% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 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 trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. 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 report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $439.22 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $79.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $473.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $476.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Moody’s Company 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.