Advisory Alpha LLC Boosts Stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 968 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Conning Inc. raised its position in Moody’s by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.7% during the second quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 0.4% during the second quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 7,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,083,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MCO. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective 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, Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $477.08.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of MCO opened at $471.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $86.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $471.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $428.45.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. Moody’s’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 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, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Moody’s Profile

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.