Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Stock Position Lifted by Sunflower Bank N.A.

Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 904 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Moody’s by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 723 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 6.9% in the third quarter. Crestmont Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,065 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 4.0% in the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 392.9% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 15.7% during the third quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 2,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $487.77.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock traded up $5.71 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $475.11. 527,478 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 743,143. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The firm has a market cap of $86.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.87, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $474.18 and a 200 day moving average of $432.60.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.