Exchange Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Exchange Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,888 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Exchange Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake 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 valued at $51,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Moody’s by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,190 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,632,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $500.93 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $487.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $481.42. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $90.17 billion, a PE ratio of 44.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s 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 value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Oppenheimer increased 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. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

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.