Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Trims Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 28.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,022 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,167 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,953,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 232.6% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,957 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 2,068 shares during the period. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody’s by 2.3% during the second quarter. Fairbanks Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after buying an additional 127 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 5.8% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,616 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,889,000 after buying an additional 634 shares during the period. Bowie Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 16.1% during the second quarter. Bowie Capital Management LLC now owns 156,125 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $65,718,000 after buying an additional 21,599 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 55.2% during the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,885 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after buying an additional 1,737 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $465.00.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $482.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.87 billion, a PE ratio of 52.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $490.18. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $458.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $417.64.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

About Moody’s

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.