Diversified Trust Co Trims Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Diversified Trust Co lowered its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised 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 valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 200.0% during the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

MCO traded down $0.85 on Monday, reaching $420.08. 184,155 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 715,436. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $76.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $402.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $391.66. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $428.79.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 54.50% and a net margin of 27.01%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $350.00 to $374.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Moody’s from $424.00 to $454.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays upgraded shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $405.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $403.00.

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.