Highland Capital Management LLC Sells 60 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Highland Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 773 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the second quarter worth $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $462.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $478.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $438.94. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.