Quantbot Technologies LP Trims Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Quantbot Technologies LP decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 11.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,874 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,571 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,412,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 2,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 17,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,185,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $394,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $446.67 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $80.35 billion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $486.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $481.44. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MCO. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

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.