California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 296,409 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,095 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.16% of Moody’s worth $115,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCO. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $996,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,867,000 after acquiring an additional 4,444 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP grew its stake in Moody’s by 99.9% during the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 15,648 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,111,000 after acquiring an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 5,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Moody’s by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 48,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MCO opened at $382.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $383.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $370.87. The company has a market capitalization of $69.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.75.

About Moody’s

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.