Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 705 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 705 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $460.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,283,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 870,865. The stock has a market cap of $83.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $462.66. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $427.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $401.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Richard G. Steele 1,506 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.