Citigroup Inc. Sells 22,014 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Citigroup Inc. reduced its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 97,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22,014 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.05% of Moody’s worth $46,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after acquiring an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after buying an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after buying an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total value of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $480.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $473.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $451.64. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $358.49 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The stock has a market cap of $87.10 billion, a PE ratio of 43.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

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.