Amalgamated Bank Sells 757 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,938 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 757 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $16,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on MCO. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $501.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $487.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $481.68. The stock has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.52, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total transaction of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.