King Luther Capital Management Corp Reduces Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lessened its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 299,820 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,463 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $126,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $490.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $466.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $422.79. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $492.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.