State of Michigan Retirement System Cuts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,906 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $21,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 625 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $543,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Moody’s by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $528.77.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $481.05 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $490.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $482.75. The company has a market capitalization of $86.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.68, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 33.36%.

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.