Trust Co. of Vermont Has $543,000 Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 28 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after acquiring an additional 173,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $488.46 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $89.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $477.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $435.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MCO. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $488.46.

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.