Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Huntington National Bank

Huntington National Bank grew its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,331 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $2,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Albion Financial Group UT purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in Moody’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in Moody’s by 101.9% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $527.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $471.66 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $484.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.80. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $360.05 and a 52 week high of $531.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.34.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a positive change from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $30,601,631.48. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,258 shares of company stock valued at $610,936. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.