Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Newport Trust Company LLC

Newport Trust Company LLC lowered its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 307,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,688 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC owned 0.17% of Moody’s worth $129,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. TCI Fund Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after acquiring an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $477.08.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of MCO opened at $490.11 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $492.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $466.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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

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.