Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $10.36 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado decreased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,881 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 903 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 17.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,976,000 after acquiring an additional 67,486 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 210.4% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,409,000 after acquiring an additional 10,582 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.3% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,989,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Moody’s by 29.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,562,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 538.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,544 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,361,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $530.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO opened at $440.02 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $453.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $472.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 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, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

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.