Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 175 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lessened its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $29,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Moody’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,303,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 94.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $613,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in Moody’s by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,877 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,964 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Moody’s by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 8,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,823,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,487 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $482.12 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $490.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $482.75. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $360.05 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $86.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.78, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.31.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.27 by $0.35. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.03% and a return on equity of 58.94%. The business had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Moody’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 33.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MCO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Moody’s in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $481.00 to $508.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $543.00 to $545.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $528.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $473.62, for a total transaction of $133,087.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,314,236.28. The trade was a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,124 shares of company stock valued at $552,193 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.