Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida Acquires New Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Canandaigua National Trust Co of Florida bought a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCOFree Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 877 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Haverford Trust Co boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the third quarter. Okabena Investment Services Inc. now owns 2,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,313,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 984 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adero Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 3.8% in the third quarter. Adero Partners LLC now owns 660 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. The trade was a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,326. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MCO shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MCO

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $4.89 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $474.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 552,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,875. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $479.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $468.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The company has a market cap of $85.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.31, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCOGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Moody’s Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Moody's (NYSE:MCO)

Receive News & Ratings for Moody's Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Moody's and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.