Andina Capital Management LLC Invests $567,000 in Moody’s Corporation $MCO

Andina Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $567,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,815,629 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,899,490,000 after purchasing an additional 119,548 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,776,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $841,050,000 after purchasing an additional 302,453 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,590,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $752,980,000 after purchasing an additional 220,681 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 9.7% in the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,586,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $738,897,000 after acquiring an additional 140,128 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 21.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,530,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $712,777,000 after acquiring an additional 265,389 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCO. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody’s from $445.00 to $515.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Moody’s from $493.00 to $498.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Moody’s from $533.00 to $468.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moody’s from $573.00 to $595.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Moody’s from $552.00 to $563.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $538.80.

Moody’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCO opened at $509.18 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. Moody’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $378.71 and a 12-month high of $531.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $499.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.40.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.39 by $0.17. Moody’s had a return on equity of 60.73% and a net margin of 29.18%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Moody’s Corporation will post 13.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.95%.

Insider Activity

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 2,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $511.18, for a total transaction of $1,083,701.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,558 shares in the company, valued at $2,841,138.44. This trade represents a 27.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,457 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $508.83, for a total value of $741,365.31. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 1,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,238.38. This represents a 51.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,008 shares of company stock valued at $4,599,385 in the last three months. 0.14% 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.