Truist Financial Corp Lowers Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Truist Financial Corp cut its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 32.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 13,174 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $10,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,974,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,418,296,000 after purchasing an additional 88,667 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 5.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,301,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,927,000 after acquiring an additional 205,800 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.3% during the third quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 1,693,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $535,573,000 after acquiring an additional 21,145 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,661,998 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $525,474,000 after acquiring an additional 59,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,515,430 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,867,000 after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $414.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Moody’s from $425.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised shares of Moody’s from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $420.00 to $410.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.75.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $372.24 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $296.45 and a fifty-two week high of $407.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $384.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $372.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $67.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.64, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.27.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 55.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 10.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This is a boost from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.95%.

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.