Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Purchased by Brooklyn Investment Group

Brooklyn Investment Group raised its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Moody’s during the first quarter worth $38,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Moody’s by 24.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,540,000 after purchasing an additional 5,701 shares during the period. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Moody’s during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $565,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Moody’s in the 1st quarter worth $1,788,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,354 shares in the company, valued at $29,387,952.46. This trade represents a 0.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Moody’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $494.03 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a 1 year low of $358.49 and a 1 year high of $495.10. The company has a market capitalization of $89.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $473.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $452.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

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.