Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Decreases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. reduced its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,877 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 8,298 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,928,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares in the last quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Moody’s by 350.5% in the 4th quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP now owns 14,448 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,839,000 after acquiring an additional 11,241 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in Moody’s by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 6,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kesler Norman & Wride LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $492,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total transaction of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $401.74 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $482.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $478.93. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $72.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $523.43.

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.