Assetmark Inc. Grows Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,072 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Moody’s by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $833,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC raised its position in Moody’s by 11.1% during the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after acquiring an additional 173,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, 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. One 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, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Price Performance

MCO stock opened at $482.09 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $350.38 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $87.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $474.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $446.54.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend 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.