Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Holdings Boosted by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 905 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $21,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Moody’s by 114.3% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Moody’s during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Moody’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $477.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $494.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $467.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $424.10. The firm has a market cap of $90.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.00, a P/E/G 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.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

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.