USS Investment Management Ltd Decreases Stock Position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

USS Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,985 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,888 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Moody's were worth $14,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody's by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $515.87.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $1.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $470.19. 363,593 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 768,760. 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 52-week low of $378.71 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The company's 50-day moving average price is $452.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $473.04. The company has a market cap of $84.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.