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

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lessened its position in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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 quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody's by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 451 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Moody's by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 64,754 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $30,872,000 after acquiring an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in Moody's by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 793 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Moody's by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 33,504 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $15,860,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Moody's from $481.00 to $531.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Moody's from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on Moody's from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Moody's from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Moody's Price Performance

Shares of MCO stock traded down $4.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $518.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,015,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,447. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $485.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $479.39. The company has a market capitalization of $93.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.37, a PEG 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 fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $531.93.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm had revenue of $1.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody's Co. will post 12.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody's Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Moody's's previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody's's payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total value of $133,087.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,314,236.28. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 843 shares of company stock valued at $405,455 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.