Cantillon Capital Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cantillon Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 471,545 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,072 shares during the quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $223,791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after purchasing an additional 12,099 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 9.3% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,774,000 after buying an additional 2,988 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,099,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at $141,336,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MCO opened at $471.94 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $355.77 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $473.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $449.22.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.43 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

Moody’s 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.