Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 986 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 157 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Graypoint LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 973 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $462,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,434,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 8,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 14,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,833,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $461.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $489.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $482.67. The company has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.99, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.