775 Shares in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Acquired by Heritage Trust Co

Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 775 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $367,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $304,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 17.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 452,970 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,976,000 after acquiring an additional 67,486 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 828.2% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,392,000 after acquiring an additional 2,617 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE MCO opened at $428.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.47. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $360.05 and a one year high of $531.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $471.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $475.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a PE ratio of 38.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,092,537.92. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock worth $610,936. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Moody’s from $570.00 to $520.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $524.86.

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.