Chesapeake Wealth Management Sells 75 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Chesapeake Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 450 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $213,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after purchasing an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

Moody’s stock opened at $475.74 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $480.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $471.38. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.30. 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 (NYSE:MCO) last released 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,390,984.84. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,524 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,413 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCO. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $506.14.

About Moody’s

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.