NBC Securities Inc. Purchases 117 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 21.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 674 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the quarter. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Moody’s by 14.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $11,263,000 after acquiring an additional 2,933 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 381 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 10,806 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,129,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 3,053 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in Moody’s by 302.5% during the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,429 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.5 %

Moody’s stock opened at $488.46 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The company has a market cap of $89.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $477.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $435.57.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $488.46.

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.