Bowie Capital Management LLC Sells 9,302 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bowie Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 136,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,302 shares during the period. Moody’s accounts for approximately 3.4% of Bowie Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Bowie Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $64,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 80.6% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Moody’s from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the firm’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 $29,092,537.92. This trade represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 1,111 shares of company stock worth $520,603 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE MCO opened at $465.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $449.41 and its 200-day moving average is $471.90. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $378.71 and a one year high of $531.93. The firm has a market cap of $83.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The company had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.