Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 153,121 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,638,551 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 153,121 shares during the period. Moody's makes up approximately 1.1% of Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 1.99% of Moody's worth $1,421,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Moody's by 4,900.0% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Moody's in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Moody's in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in Moody's by 143.8% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 117 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Moody's from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Moody's from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody's from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Moody's from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Moody's from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody's Trading Up 0.5 %

MCO traded up $1.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $397.89. The stock had a trading volume of 398,156 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,575. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $387.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $366.51. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $290.98 and a 52 week 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Moody's had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Moody's Co. will post 10.66 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.