AQR Capital Management LLC Lowers Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,931 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 553 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $8,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,976,000 after purchasing an additional 67,486 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Moody's by 1,506.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 220,279 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 206,570 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its stake in Moody's by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,341 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,466 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,967,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho assumed coverage on Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

Moody's Price Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $471.15. 613,071 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 772,477. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. 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 company has a market capitalization of $84.76 billion, a PE ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The firm's 50-day moving average is $446.66 and its 200-day moving average is $471.58.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

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.