Eastern Bank Makes New Investment in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 295 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $140,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after acquiring an additional 225,846 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the period. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% during the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after purchasing an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $500.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’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 value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was 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 valued at $1,332,825 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MCO opened at $466.94 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12 month low of $298.86 and a 12 month high of $495.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $478.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $437.61. 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 cap of $85.26 billion, a PE ratio of 50.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend 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.