Simmons Bank Cuts Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Simmons Bank reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 13.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 774 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 120 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Moody’s by 1.7% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 29,534 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,608,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.3% during the first quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 1,622 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $637,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc. now owns 2,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $479.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $86.87 billion, a PE ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $474.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $446.31. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $344.60 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.