Sepio Capital LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Sepio Capital LP trimmed its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,882 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 122 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $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 increased its holdings in Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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 $473.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $470.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.93. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $86.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.