Everence Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Everence Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,475 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,010 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $425,827,000. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 277.8% during the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,544,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $488,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,463 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,994,497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,112,947,000 after purchasing an additional 914,530 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $153,532,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,510,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $477,728,000 after buying an additional 429,473 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $411.00 to $424.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $370.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $67.58 billion, a PE ratio of 42.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.27. 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $385.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $368.64. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $296.45 and a 12 month high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 10.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.