Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 1,990 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 17.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,318 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,990 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $6,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Moody’s by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 37.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 8,378.0% in the third quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 10,767 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,110,000 after buying an additional 10,640 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in Moody’s by 2.1% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 11,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,627,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its position in Moody’s by 9.4% in the third quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 1,162 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. 92.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $521.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $461.87 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $477.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $439.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given 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 0.74%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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 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 three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Moody’s Company 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.