Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,493,908 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 21,522 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.82% of Moody’s worth $587,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $692,850,000 after acquiring an additional 229,831 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $88,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 32,275.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 221,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,489,000 after purchasing an additional 220,764 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MCO traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $432.63. The company had a trading volume of 499,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,662. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $434.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $408.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $393.31. The stock has a market cap of $79.00 billion, a PE ratio of 47.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.45.

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.