HWG Holdings LP Sells 858 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

HWG Holdings LP lowered its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,909 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 858 shares during the period. Moody's accounts for 1.5% of HWG Holdings LP's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. HWG Holdings LP's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody's by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,738,645,000 after acquiring an additional 68,627 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Moody's by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $841,050,000 after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Moody's by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,590,679 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $752,980,000 after purchasing an additional 220,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. One research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $520.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE MCO traded down $2.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $479.19. 1,422,075 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 771,611. Moody's Co. has a 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $86.21 billion, a PE ratio of 42.52, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $453.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $473.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

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.