Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 102 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. cut its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 102 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $31,600,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Moody’s by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 67,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,981,000 after purchasing an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after buying an additional 6,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $461.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $82.95 billion, a PE ratio of 40.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $485.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.00. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.