Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Reduces Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. trimmed its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 44.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,223 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 3,386 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,000,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 17.5% in 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 during the period. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in Moody's by 210.4% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 15,612 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,409,000 after purchasing an additional 10,582 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody's by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,989,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,399 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 538.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,544 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,361,000 after buying an additional 46,843 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Moody's from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $515.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock worth $659,535. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Performance

MCO stock traded up $12.29 on Friday, hitting $464.15. The company had a trading volume of 222,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,647. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody's Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $83.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $450.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $472.28.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.