Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 48,509 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lessened its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 91.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,571 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 48,509 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC's holdings in Moody's were worth $2,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carson Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 741 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody's by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,803 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Moody's by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 746 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $353,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Moody's

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,690 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,445,682. The trade was 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 available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535 over the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody's currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded up $6.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $453.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 837,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 777,047. The firm has a market cap of $81.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $452.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $472.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

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.