Centiva Capital LP Sells 1,065 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Centiva Capital LP decreased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,578 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,065 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake 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 worth $31,981,000 after buying an additional 4,544 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 994,384 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $470,712,000 after acquiring an additional 31,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted 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 worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Moody’s from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $515.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 over the last ninety days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $471.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.87, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $378.71 and a 1-year high of $531.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $446.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $471.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.58 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. On average, equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

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.