Heritage Family Offices LLP Acquires 165 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Heritage Family Offices LLP lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Heritage Family Offices LLP’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Moody’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,047,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,344,802,000 after buying an additional 63,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,708,851,000 after acquiring an additional 416,535 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,107,344,000 after acquiring an additional 430,878 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 32.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total value of $133,435.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock worth $1,045,326. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.14.

Moody’s Trading Up 2.0 %

MCO stock opened at $471.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $85.47 billion, a PE ratio of 43.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $479.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $470.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 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.