Harris Associates L P Decreases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Harris Associates L P reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 91.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,224 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 280,229 shares during the quarter. Harris Associates L P’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $11,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $497.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $503.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $474.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.05.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.