Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by Atomi Financial Group Inc.

Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 608 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in Moody’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $487.77.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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 transaction of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $475.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $474.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $432.60. 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 company has a market cap of $86.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 1-year low of $298.86 and a 1-year high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued 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. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.