CENTRAL TRUST Co Lowers Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 9th, 2023

CENTRAL TRUST Co trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO – Get Rating) by 64.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,641 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,704 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 356,473 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $86,662,000 after buying an additional 45,601 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 23,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,435,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 31,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,693,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 84.9% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 623 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Moody’s by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 74,315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914 shares in the last quarter. 90.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Moody’s from $329.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. StockNews.com started coverage on Moody’s in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $342.00 to $349.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $308.33.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $298.62 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $230.16 and a 12-month high of $346.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $300.82 and a 200 day moving average of $286.46.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 25.13% and a return on equity of 62.08%. The company’s revenue was down 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 24th were paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 483 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $146,580.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $452,488.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Raymond W. Mcdaniel sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total value of $2,950,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 82,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,443,405. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 483 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.48, for a total value of $146,580.84. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $452,488.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,701 shares of company stock valued at $7,046,117 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Profile

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Moody’s Corp. engages in the provision of credit ratings, research, tools and analysis to the global capital markets. It operates through the Moody’s Investors Service (MIS) and Moody’s Analytics (MA) segments. The MIS segment is a credit rating agency, which publishes credit ratings on debt obligations and the entities, including various corporate and governmental obligations, structured finance securities, and commercial paper programs.