Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 3,016 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 88,403 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,016 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $41,847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 64,754 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,872,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 793 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 33,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,860,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.62.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $522.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $484.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $478.15. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $531.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $494.42, for a total value of $138,932.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,601,631.48. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. 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.