Bridges Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 24.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,706,096,000 after buying an additional 1,678,594 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after purchasing an additional 279,253 shares during the period. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the 1st quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $351,781,000 after purchasing an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

MCO stock opened at $494.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a PE ratio of 54.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $467.84 and a 200 day moving average of $423.57.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Moody’s news, 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 transaction of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Moody’s from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $482.00 to $455.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $420.00 to $451.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Six investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Moody’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $477.08.

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.