Angeles Investment Advisors LLC Sells 51 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Angeles Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 690 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $273,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 13,968 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,629,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,718,000 after buying an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,023,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $459.73 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $485.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $480.42.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.