Ieq Capital LLC Has $3.77 Million Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,961 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 762 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TCI Fund Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 12,049,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,706,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,594 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Moody’s by 133.9% during 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Moody’s in the second quarter valued at $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 41,992.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 279,918 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $117,826,000 after buying an additional 279,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% during the first quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 895,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $351,781,000 after acquiring an additional 254,178 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.9 %

Moody’s stock opened at $494.66 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $90.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $467.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $423.57. Moody’s Co. has a twelve month low of $298.86 and a twelve month high of $495.10.

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

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total transaction of $252,783.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the business’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 directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was 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 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 worth $1,332,825 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.