Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Has $41.85 Million Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

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

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% in the third 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the third 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. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third 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, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $468.00 to $481.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $459.00 to $533.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $522.62.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This trade represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 843 shares of company stock worth $405,455. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $522.76 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $484.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $478.15. The company has a market cap of $94.72 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $360.05 and a 12 month high of $531.93.

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

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

Moody’s Company 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.