Atria Investments Inc Has $3.70 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Atria Investments Inc lessened its stake in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,786 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 68 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kerusso Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Moody’s by 6.5% in the third quarter. Kerusso Capital Management LLC now owns 8,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,434,000. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in Moody’s by 13.1% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 973 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Moody’s by 5.5% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 35,695 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,940,000 after acquiring an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCO. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO opened at $475.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $474.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $445.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.16 billion, a PE ratio of 43.52, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $342.16 and a 52-week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

About Moody’s

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.