Raymond James & Associates Cuts Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 15.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 66,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,463 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Moody’s were worth $31,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,303,434 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Moody’s during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $141,336,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 279,253 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 39.7% in the first 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. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Moody’s by 8.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,228,382,000 after purchasing an additional 225,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $468.86 on Thursday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $298.86 and a 52-week high of $495.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.19, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $478.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $437.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The business 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 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.43 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,647.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of Moody’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on MCO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

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.