Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. cut its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 36,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,398 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $14,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 4,900.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 87.7% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 2,547 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.50, for a total value of $958,945.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,368,273.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $384.46 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $387.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $366.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.16 billion, a PE ratio of 44.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.27. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $296.45 and a 1-year high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 38.95%.

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.