Ascent Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ascent Group LLC increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 547 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 38 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 39.7% during 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 buying an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Moody’s by 8.4% during the second 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 buying an additional 225,846 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James cut Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $477.08.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.7 %

MCO stock opened at $471.40 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $471.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $428.45. The company has a market capitalization of $86.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.46, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.