CENTRAL TRUST Co Increases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 46.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,621 shares during the last quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,810 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,035,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $234,000. LVW Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.4% in the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 15.1% in the first quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 670 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $462.41 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $478.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $437.82.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.43 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.