Moody's Corporation $MCO Shares Sold by BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.

Key Points

• BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. reduced its stake in Moody's Corporation by 27.9%, selling 31,686 shares during the first quarter, with remaining holdings valued at approximately $38.1 million.
• Several institutional investors, including GAMMA Investing LLC, Nuveen LLC, and Goldman Sachs, made significant changes to their positions in Moody's, with GAMMA raising its stake by 55,808.8%.
• Moody's recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94, with an annualized yield of 0.7%, while reporting strong earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 27.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,886 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 31,686 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $38,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody's by 55,808.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 802,850 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $373,879,000 after purchasing an additional 801,414 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $328,595,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Moody's by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $841,050,000 after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody's by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,777,000 after purchasing an additional 265,389 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Moody's by 142.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,040 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $33,083,000 after purchasing an additional 238,569 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 2,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,699.52. This represents a 29.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,195,619.90. This represents a 31.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Moody's from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $520.00 to $580.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $538.80.

Moody's Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $516.57 on Monday. Moody's Corporation has a 1 year low of $378.71 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $92.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.89, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $499.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $479.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. Moody's had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Moody's Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's payout ratio is presently 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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