Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. cut its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Haverford Trust Co grew its position in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.36.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $484.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $360.05 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The stock has a market cap of $87.81 billion, a PE ratio of 44.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $480.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $471.73.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.24 EPS for the current year.

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.