Vanderbilt University Decreases Stock Position in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Vanderbilt University trimmed its position in shares of Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,443 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. Vanderbilt University’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $3,532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,283,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,613,867,000 after purchasing an additional 119,450 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Moody’s by 8.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,918,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,382,000 after buying an additional 225,846 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Moody’s by 133.9% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,277,056 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $958,481,000 after buying an additional 1,303,434 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 1.2% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,980,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $833,450,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares during the period. Finally, Windacre Partnership LLC lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Windacre Partnership LLC now owns 1,746,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,230,000 after acquiring an additional 173,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $500.00 to $570.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Moody’s from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Moody’s from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Moody’s stock traded up $2.62 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $465.42. 30,763 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 738,950. Moody’s Co. has a 12-month low of $298.86 and a 12-month high of $495.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $478.06 and a 200 day moving average of $438.94. The firm has a market cap of $84.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.91, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Moody’s had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.43 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Moody’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. Moody’s’s payout ratio is currently 37.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Moody’s news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total value of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.26, for a total value of $252,783.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,386.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock worth $1,332,825 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.