Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY Sells 471 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 57,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. Moody’s makes up approximately 1.5% of Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $24,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Moody’s by 0.8% in the first 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. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its position in Moody’s by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO traded down $8.41 on Friday, reaching $475.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 689,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,927. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $490.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.90, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $457.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $416.36.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid 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 was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Moody’s from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $465.00.

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.