MAI Capital Management Has $1.05 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

MAI Capital Management cut its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 19.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCO. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 52.2% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 35,264 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,844,000 after acquiring an additional 12,099 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 9.3% during the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 35,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,774,000 after buying an additional 2,988 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after buying an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 12,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter worth about $141,336,000. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group raised their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MCO opened at $478.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. Moody’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $358.49 and a fifty-two week high of $495.10. The stock has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $450.21.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.