Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Acquired by Argent Trust Co

Argent Trust Co boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,652 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Conning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.0% in the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $490.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $492.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $466.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

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.