Patton Fund Management Inc. Has $4.40 Million Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Patton Fund Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 520 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $4,404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $5,613,867,000 after acquiring an additional 119,450 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Moody’s by 8.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position 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 worth $958,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $833,450,000 after purchasing an additional 24,107 shares during the period. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $686,230,000 after buying an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $488.46.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.8 %

MCO stock traded down $3.92 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $486.12. The stock had a trading volume of 212,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 738,366. The firm has a market cap of $88.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.50, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $476.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $434.56.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The business 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%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.