Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) Shares Bought by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,581,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,123,294,000 after buying an additional 723,226 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 38.3% in the third quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 18,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,564,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC increased its position in Moody’s by 42.3% during the third quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP raised its stake in Moody’s by 1,052.4% during the third quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 5,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,746,000 after purchasing an additional 5,283 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 216,980 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $102,738,000 after purchasing an additional 32,483 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Moody’s Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:MCO opened at $499.98 on Friday. Moody’s Co. has a one year low of $358.68 and a one year high of $503.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $474.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $454.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $90.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Moody’s

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCO. Barclays increased their target price on Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James cut shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Moody’s from $455.00 to $464.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

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.