GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 34.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,436 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCO. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Moody’s by 74,000.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 724,699 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $343,935,000 after buying an additional 723,721 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after acquiring an additional 723,226 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,075,719 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $985,115,000 after acquiring an additional 502,891 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 22.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,333,263 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,344,000 after purchasing an additional 430,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,612,172 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,708,851,000 after purchasing an additional 416,535 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

In related news, CEO Robert Fauber sold 281 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.86, for a total transaction of $133,435.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,894 shares in the company, valued at $29,390,984.84. This represents a 0.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total value of $777,294.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,415 shares in the company, valued at $654,296. This trade represents a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,243 shares of company stock valued at $1,045,326. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on MCO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $490.00 to $512.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on Moody’s in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $565.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $506.14.

Moody’s Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $479.15 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a 52-week low of $360.05 and a 52-week high of $503.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.76, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $479.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67.

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 57.97% and a net margin of 29.05%. 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 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.05%.

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.