Legacy Private Trust Co. Lowers Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Legacy Private Trust Co. lessened its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 37 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after acquiring an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the first 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after acquiring an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $470.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.40, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $473.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $430.55. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.85.

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.