Highland Capital Management LLC Sells 5,956 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Highland Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 87.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 833 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,956 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. CWM LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,156,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $139,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in Moody’s by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 6,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,409,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $236,000. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 1,133 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MCO shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $456.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $479.38. 520,114 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 734,723. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $483.55. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $445.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $409.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. 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 announced its earnings results 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.