Short Interest in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Decreases By 20.8%

Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a decline of 20.8% from the October 31st total of 1,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 753,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.99, for a total transaction of $134,596.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 61,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,387,952.46. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Moody’s

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,540,000 after acquiring an additional 5,701 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 7,707 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,029,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 204.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,753 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,371,000 after purchasing an additional 12,588 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 98.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 7,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,099,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Moody’s by 69.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 551 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCO shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $536.00 to $543.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

MCO stock opened at $499.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.66, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Moody’s has a 1-year low of $358.68 and a 1-year high of $503.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $474.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.05.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.43 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s will post 12.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

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.