Patton Fund Management Inc. Sells 1,860 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Patton Fund Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 23.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,212 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,860 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc.'s holdings in Moody's were worth $2,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Moody's by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Moody's by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,981,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $470,712,000 after buying an additional 31,780 shares in the last quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $550.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody's from $489.00 to $523.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $519.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:MCO opened at $476.59 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $463.01 and its 200-day moving average is $472.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. 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 $85.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.39.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

Moody's 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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