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

Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 272.2% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 67 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $459.73 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $485.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $480.44. The stock has a market cap of $82.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $504.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

About Moody’s

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.