Sepio Capital LP Sells 246 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Sepio Capital LP decreased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,638 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 246 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,522 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Moody’s by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 634,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $300,231,000 after acquiring an additional 156,120 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $283,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $1,941,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 62,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $401.74 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $482.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $478.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $72.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

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.