Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the 2nd quarter worth about $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. This represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Moody’s Stock Performance

MCO stock opened at $473.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $85.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $474.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $446.79. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $352.17 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given 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 is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Company 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.