Tobam Buys 48 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Tobam raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 38.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 173 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the quarter. Tobam’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $73,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MCO. UBS Group lifted their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $456.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Moody’s stock opened at $487.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.25, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.28. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $298.86 and a 1 year high of $488.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $450.29 and a 200-day moving average of $411.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.34 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company 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.