Wulff Hansen & CO. Sells 60 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Wulff Hansen & CO. lowered its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 605 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Avitas Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Okabena Investment Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the third quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

MCO stock opened at $450.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $485.94 and a 200-day moving average of $480.94. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $527.00.

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.