Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 18.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,660 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,136 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $5,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Conning Inc. grew its stake in Moody’s by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 778 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Moody’s by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 150 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 92.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other Moody’s news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,084,606.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,606.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Moody’s Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE MCO opened at $478.82 on Tuesday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $298.86 and a one year high of $495.10. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $468.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $424.71. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $87.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.27, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody’s had a net margin of 28.34% and a return on equity of 57.03%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 11.36 EPS for the current year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Moody’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $492.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $430.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.