NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Sells 48 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lowered its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 48 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $17,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. State Street Corp lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after buying an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock worth $1,045,326 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $506.14.

Moody’s Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $18.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $453.55. 252,920 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 476,563. The company has a market cap of $82.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $480.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $468.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 31.05%.

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.