Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Has $1.72 Million Stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 89.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,624 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 29,335 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $1,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Moody's by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,696,081 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,956,684,000 after purchasing an additional 63,820 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Moody's by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,680,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,738,645,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Moody's during the 4th quarter worth approximately $988,750,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Moody's by 20.5% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Moody's by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $727,726,000 after purchasing an additional 53,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total value of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at $27,445,682. This trade represents a 0.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO traded up $0.72 on Wednesday, hitting $481.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 127,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 766,708. The company has a market capitalization of $86.70 billion, a PE ratio of 42.79, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $452.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $473.19. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is 32.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Moody's from $575.00 to $525.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $520.87.

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.