Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Sells 647 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 19.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 647 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Haverford Trust Co raised its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 0.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 66,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,368,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Moody’s by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 373,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $177,323,000 after acquiring an additional 5,694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $482.09 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $87.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $474.05 and its 200 day moving average is $446.54. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $350.38 and a twelve month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.