Bellwether Advisors LLC Takes Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

by · The Markets Daily

Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO – Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,374 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,025,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $958,481,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in Moody’s by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% in the first quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after buying an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of 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 target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Moody’s

Moody’s Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE MCO opened at $468.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.81, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $473.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $449.84. 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 twelve month low of $355.77 and a twelve month high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO – Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Moody’s news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Further Reading