Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Cuts Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 885 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,001 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 18,718 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 62,913 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $29,858,000 after acquiring an additional 6,340 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 14,316 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Finally, Burney Co. acquired a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth $6,775,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $499.62 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $487.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.92. The company has a market capitalization of $89.93 billion, a PE ratio of 44.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $360.05 and a 1 year high of $531.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 33.36%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,124 shares of company stock worth $552,193 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $528.77.

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.