Truist Financial Corp Trims Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 32.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,174 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,845,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 87.7% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the third quarter valued at $52,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the third quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $64,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MCO. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $372.24 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $384.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $372.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $296.45 and a fifty-two week high of $407.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.14). Moody’s had a return on equity of 55.23% and a net margin of 27.16%. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.95%.

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.