Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP decreased its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 92.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,000 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 108,900 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP's holdings in Moody's were worth $4,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. CX Institutional grew its holdings in Moody's by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,113 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Moody's by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,591 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $753,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $351,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Moody's by 52.3% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 169 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S acquired a new position in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Moody's in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $520.87.

Moody's Stock Performance

NYSE MCO traded down $1.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $480.22. The company had a trading volume of 123,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 832,366. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $453.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $473.24. The firm has a market cap of $86.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Equities analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

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.