AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Decreases Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,395 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $32,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 566.7% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 60 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 272.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 83.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 86 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $462.00 to $481.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,524 shares of company stock worth $1,178,413 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $489.21 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $503.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.68, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $481.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $472.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.