Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Position Increased by Bamco Inc. NY

Bamco Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,741 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $17,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after purchasing an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position 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 worth $3,123,294,000 after purchasing an additional 723,226 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $985,115,000 after purchasing an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MCO stock opened at $497.58 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $474.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $455.05. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $360.05 and a fifty-two week high of $503.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.43 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.