HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 272,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,374 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $128,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 272.2% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.4 %

MCO opened at $444.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.89 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $488.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $482.26. 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.94 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

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.