Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 665 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $9,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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 issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $494.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $467.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $423.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.00, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.