Cresset Asset Management LLC Sells 13,187 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cresset Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 71.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,273 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,187 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 80.6% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. 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. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $530.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $515.87.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.1 %

MCO stock opened at $471.15 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $378.71 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $446.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $471.58.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 32.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,111 shares of company stock valued at $520,603 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.