Acadian Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Acadian Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 56.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 30,867 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 39,723 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $12,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $738,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 459 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 2,375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $933,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Three investment 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $427.75.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.5 %

MCO stock traded down $6.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $442.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,314,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 617,844. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $419.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $397.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $80.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $458.24.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.31. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.01% and a return on equity of 54.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.99 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

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.