Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Greenleaf Trust

Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,383 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 11,207 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,377,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $234,000. HTLF Bank purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth about $484,000. AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in Moody’s by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 6,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the period. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its stake in Moody’s by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 380 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $355.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.75.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $374.67 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $384.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $369.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.27. 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 1 year low of $296.45 and a 1 year high of $407.62.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 10.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. 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.