AE Wealth Management LLC Purchases 11,184 Shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1,345.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,015 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,184 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,058,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCO. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 2,140 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the 4th quarter worth about $161,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,885 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,908,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCO stock opened at $494.66 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $467.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a PE ratio of 54.00, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given 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 is presently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,147 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,619,386.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total value of $232,030.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCO has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.