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

Highland Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 87.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 833 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,956 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $456.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO traded down $0.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $479.38. 520,114 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 734,723. The company’s 50 day moving average is $445.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $409.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.53 billion, a PE ratio of 52.33, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $483.55.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 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, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. 0.07% 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.