Blue Trust Inc. Sells 1,202 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 80.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 283 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,202 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Burney Co. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,775,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 567.2% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 80,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $38,338,000 after buying an additional 68,674 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $499.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $487.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.70. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com raised shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

About Moody’s

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.