Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 1,175 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 43.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Moody’s during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $477.08.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related 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 transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’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 owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCO opened at $476.96 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $490.18. The stock has a market cap of $86.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.07, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $463.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $419.85.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

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.