TIAA Trust National Association Sells 436 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

TIAA Trust National Association cut its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 436 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 272.2% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $522.20, for a total value of $146,738.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $469.55 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $486.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.25. The company has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

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.