Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 419 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,506 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on MCO. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $483.85.

Moody’s Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Moody’s stock opened at $460.53 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $472.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $429.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.09 billion, a PE 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 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.