Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO) Holdings Trimmed by Dock Street Asset Management Inc.

Dock Street Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 11.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,100 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,730 shares during the quarter. Moody's makes up approximately 1.2% of Dock Street Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Dock Street Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $9,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody's by 5.5% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,048 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,214,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 77,500.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 2,328 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 289.8% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,282 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,528,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Moody's by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 69,849 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,528,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody's by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 7,259 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total transaction of $208,911.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,153,412.40. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:MCO traded up $5.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $500.41. The company had a trading volume of 704,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 764,127. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $485.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $473.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.21, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.37% and a net margin of 29.15%. Equities analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody's from $572.00 to $573.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $519.07.

About Moody's

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.