Empowered Funds LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,831 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Haverford Trust Co grew its position in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 1,223 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.8% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,357 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Moody’s by 2.6% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 960 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company 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 note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Moody’s presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCO opened at $471.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $85.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.10, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $473.76 and its 200 day moving average is $449.22. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $355.77 and a 52 week high of $495.10.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. Moody’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 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. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Insider Activity at Moody’s

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

Moody’s 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.