Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,106 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Moody's were worth $16,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Moody's by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,418,296,000 after acquiring an additional 88,667 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,659,254 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,315,556,000 after purchasing an additional 148,804 shares during the period. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,909,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,359,927,000 after purchasing an additional 205,800 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Moody's by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Moody's from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody's in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Moody's from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Moody's from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Moody's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody's Stock Performance

Moody's stock traded down $2.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $391.20. 1,178,908 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 728,600. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $387.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $364.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 1.27. Moody's Co. has a 1 year low of $290.98 and a 1 year high of $407.62.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody's had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 10.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 38.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total transaction of $958,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares in the company, valued at $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.