Comerica Bank Has $15.88 Million Stock Holdings in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Comerica Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,539 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 1,262 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in Moody's were worth $15,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Moody's in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Albion Financial Group UT bought a new stake in shares of Moody's in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Moody's during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody's by 80.6% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 121 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody's

In other news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 415 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $463.08, for a total value of $192,178.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,092,537.92. The trade was a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 1,392 shares of company stock valued at $659,535 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Moody's Stock Down 0.3 %

Moody's stock opened at $451.64 on Friday. Moody's Co. has a twelve month low of $360.05 and a twelve month high of $531.93. The stock has a market cap of $81.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day moving average price is $450.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $472.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.58 by $0.25. Moody's had a return on equity of 58.94% and a net margin of 29.03%. The business had revenue of $1.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Moody's Co. will post 13.95 EPS for the current year.

Moody's Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MCO shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Moody's from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Moody's from $475.00 to $456.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Moody's in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Moody's from $610.00 to $572.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Moody's from $585.00 to $495.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $515.87.

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.

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