Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 137,266 Shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 365,161 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 137,266 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.20% of Moody's worth $172,857,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody's by 0.4% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Moody's in the 4th quarter worth about $988,750,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody's by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,537,331 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $727,726,000 after buying an additional 53,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Moody's by 73.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,131,656 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $534,255,000 after buying an additional 479,599 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody's Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded up $12.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $463.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 222,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 773,632. Moody's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $450.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $472.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.15, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.47%.

Insider Transactions at Moody's

In other Moody's news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $437.80, for a total transaction of $181,687.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,445,682. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody's in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $530.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

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.