Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lowered its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 644 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,990 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 109,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,551,000 after buying an additional 1,674 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,632,000 after buying an additional 1,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at about $225,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $528.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Moody’s stock opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $487.34 and its 200-day moving average is $481.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio 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.