Newport Trust Company LLC Reduces Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Newport Trust Company LLC reduced its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 307,491 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,688 shares during the quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $129,432,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Moody’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after buying an additional 254,178 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’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 value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $477.08.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $490.11 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $466.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $422.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of $89.49 billion, a PE ratio of 53.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $492.48.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.