Blair William & Co. IL Sells 1,325 Shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 2.9%, selling 1,325 shares to hold a total of 43,745 shares valued at approximately $20.37 million.
• Moody's recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $3.56, exceeding expectations and showing a 4.5% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.8%, indicating a sustainable dividend payout ratio of 31.95%.

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,745 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,325 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Moody's were worth $20,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in Moody's by 1,000.0% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody's in the first quarter worth about $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 132.6% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco boosted its holdings in Moody's by 581.3% during the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In related news, CFO Noemie Clemence Heuland sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $508.24, for a total transaction of $455,891.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,091,699.52. This trade represents a 29.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total value of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Moody's from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $495.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $501.30 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $492.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $477.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody's had a net margin of 29.18% and a return on equity of 60.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.28 earnings per share. Moody's's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

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.

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