AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 563 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AQR Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 563 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in 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. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Moody’s in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.85.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $460.53 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $472.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $429.84. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.