Fulton Bank N.A. Purchases 85 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Moody’s by 114.3% in 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 during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $470.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.98 billion, a PE ratio of 51.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $473.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $430.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The trade was 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. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.85.

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.