E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Lowers Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB reduced its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,450 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 83.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $478.15 and a 200 day moving average of $437.61. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The stock has a market cap of $85.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.