Boston Trust Walden Corp Decreases Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,525 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 1st quarter valued at $234,000. LVW Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $615,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Kowal Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 15.1% in the 1st quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 670 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 3,398 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,336,000 after acquiring an additional 588 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $462.80 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $478.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $438.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s 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.