Vestcor Inc Trims Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Vestcor Inc reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 256 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE MCO opened at $446.67 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 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93. The company has a market capitalization of $80.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $486.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $481.42.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company 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.