Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 109,449 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,674 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $51,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $343,935,000 after acquiring an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $462.80 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $478.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $438.94. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $298.86 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10. The company has a market cap of $84.51 billion, a PE ratio of 50.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. 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.