American International Group Inc. Sells 562 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

American International Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 562 shares during the quarter. American International Group Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $19,111,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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 $720,502,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 39.7% during the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,773,991 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,850,000 after acquiring an additional 229,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verity & Verity LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $88,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $18.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $433.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,222,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 725,790. The business has a fifty day moving average of $421.55 and a 200-day moving average of $398.36. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $458.24. The company has a market cap of $79.21 billion, a PE ratio of 47.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $448.50.

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.