Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 65.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,330 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 30,572 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $7,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,290,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 668 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,092 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $517,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $711,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $379,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Moody's from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody's Price Performance

MCO traded up $1.82 on Friday, hitting $489.15. 504,501 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 771,917. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business's fifty day moving average is $449.08 and its 200 day moving average is $472.42. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $378.71 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.