Whittier Trust Co. Acquires 33 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position 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 valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,321,046.80. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $459.73 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $485.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $82.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is 33.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MCO. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup assumed 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $527.00.

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.