Prudential PLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO)

Key Points

• Prudential PLC has reduced its stock holdings in Moody's Corporation by 7.5%, now owning 29,572 shares valued at approximately $13.77 million.
• Moody's reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $3.56 per share, exceeding estimates, while revenue reached $1.90 billion, indicating a 4.5% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, scheduled for payment on September 5th, representing an annual yield of 0.7%.

Prudential PLC lowered its stake in shares of Moody's Corporation (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,572 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,394 shares during the quarter. Prudential PLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $13,771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 1,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 55 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 5,050.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 103 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 132.6% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Motco boosted its stake in shares of Moody's by 581.3% during the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 109 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $503.40, for a total value of $208,911.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 61,886 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,153,412.40. This trade represents a 0.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Michael L. West sold 3,704 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.10, for a total transaction of $1,893,114.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,195,619.90. This trade represents a 31.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,593 shares of company stock worth $4,382,984. Insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $496.00 to $532.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Moody's from $525.00 to $552.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $538.80.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO traded down $4.75 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $516.57. The stock had a trading volume of 410,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,055. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $498.69 and a 200-day moving average of $479.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $92.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.40. Moody's Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93.

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

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.