Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd Sells 24,351 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,669,589 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 24,351 shares during the quarter. Moody’s accounts for approximately 10.7% of Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd owned 0.91% of Moody’s worth $652,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,296,000 after buying an additional 88,667 shares during the period. Akre Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Akre Capital Management LLC now owns 5,659,712 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,909,643,000 after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,112,947,000 after acquiring an additional 914,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,789,339 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $851,276,000 after acquiring an additional 41,746 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $362.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.8 %

Moody’s stock traded down $2.81 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $370.73. 900,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 637,445. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $296.45 and a 52-week high of $407.62. The company has a market capitalization of $67.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.42, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $385.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $368.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

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.