Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 349 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,365 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,960,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 23,032 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,903,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Moody’s by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $441.64 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $79.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $487.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $481.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

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.