Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. reduced its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 88.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,240 shares during the quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wealthsource Partners LLC now owns 3,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 997 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $400.50.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock traded down $2.50 during trading on Friday, hitting $408.12. 461,996 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 659,760. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $394.47 and its 200 day moving average is $388.27. The stock has a market cap of $74.52 billion, a PE ratio of 44.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $417.75.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.