Czech National Bank Has $15.14 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 6.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 31,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,977 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $15,140,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 466 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 1,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,766,000. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,893,000. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $500,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $482.00 to $455.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $483.85.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of MCO traded down $7.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $460.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,308,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,405. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $472.99 and a 200 day moving average of $429.54. The company has a market cap of $84.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Moody’s Company 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.