Pitcairn Co. Sells 101 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pitcairn Co. trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 901 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 10.7% during the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 722 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,082 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $19,023,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 106.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 962,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $456,842,000 after purchasing an additional 10,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 1.1 %

MCO opened at $499.69 on Wednesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $358.49 and a 1-year high of $501.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $473.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $452.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.54 billion, a PE ratio of 45.63, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

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

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was 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 owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.